


Digimon Adventure: Chaos

by WhiteCabaret



Category: Digimon - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Compliant, Explicit Language, M/M, Original Character(s), Uses Both Sub and Dub Terminology
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-16
Updated: 2018-04-05
Packaged: 2019-01-18 02:45:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12379263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhiteCabaret/pseuds/WhiteCabaret
Summary: The Digital World is in chaos, with Digimon being deleted at random by an unknown force. Two new Chosen Children are transported to the Digital World to combat the threat, stoic-to-a-fault Hiroto Matsutani and the ornery and standoffish Makis Onohara. Despite their differences, they must team up alongside their new partners, Commandramon and Gazimon, to take on this seemingly unstoppable foe.





	1. Another World

He could have all the training in the world, but nothing could prepare him for this. Hiroto Matsutani never expected a day to come when he'd wake up, and instead of looking up at the ceiling of his room, he'd instead find himself looking up at an endless blue sky with dirt underneath him. Even more surprising was when he scrambled to his feet, and saw the jungle he dropped into, covered in foliage of greys and blues that he completely didn't recognize. And with no explanation as to why, despite his last memory being going to bed the night before, he was completely dressed. Arctic camouflage pants, a black muscle shirt, a rising sun bandanna around his neck, and boots. Instantly alarmed, he began moving, trying to find some sort of indication of where he was or what was going on—stumbling into another clearing where he found another kid, face-down unconscious. With a start, Hiroto hurried over and knelt down next to the other kid, grabbing his wrist and feeling their pulse. He let out a sigh when he felt a gentle beating beneath his fingers, and then silently he tried shaking the other figure awake by their shoulder.

Makis' hand twitched in Hiroto's hold and then withdrew so he could use it to help roll himself over with a quiet groan. His dark green crop pants had a fresh tear in the right knee, but his actual knee didn't look too bad. A long-sleeved white shirt tucked into the brown-belted waistline with a smaller mauve t-shirt layered on top of it. His shoes looked like brown hiking sneakers. Long black hair hid his face at first, but then Makis brushed it all aside with one hand. He also witnessed the blue sky framed by purple trees. Was he dreaming? That seemed like a strong possibility. Then Makis turned his head finding Hiroto crouched next to him, and he frowned. He recognized this guy from class; the big, boring, stubborn military kid-type. "You trying to prank me or something?" Makis asked as he slowly sat himself up. "Seems freakishly elaborate."

Hiroto quirked a well-groomed eyebrow. Oh, he knew this kid. The one who always sat in the back of the class in homeroom looking like he wanted for all the world to be anywhere but at his desk. Hiroto ran his fingers through short brown hair that was darker on top where it spiked up slightly, and lighter in the back where it was buzzed close and fine. Then he rested his elbow on his bent knee with a frown. "Hardly," he finally answered, after a moment of critical staring with slate grey eyes and completely dead silence. "I don't know what's going on any more than you do."

"Then I guess there's no point sticking around here with you." Makis stood himself up, bent his scraped knee a few times, and then started into the brush. If he could find a stream or river, he might find a town built along its bank somewhere. At the very least, it could eventually lead him to the ocean where maybe he could flag down a ship. Wherever he was, it didn't seem at all like Japan. Could it be South America? That still wouldn't answer how he got here. Did his parents know he was missing yet? This was a fine mess...

Hiroto frowned at the kid's back as he vanished into the brush. That was hardly a warm reception, but Hiroto wouldn't be able to live with himself if he let the kid just wander off and get even more lost—or worse, hurt. So, he started into the brush as well. He would occasionally pause and look at the pastel-colored leaves as he pushed them aside, still trying to figure out where exactly they were. Something wasn't right. And those suspicions were confirmed even further when the two of them emerged on a river, and sunken deep into the mud on the riverbanks were a set of huge, clawed footprints, set distinctly into the earth.

Makis heard Hiroto following behind him and sighed. Looked like he wouldn't lose the meathead any time soon. He heard the sound of rushing water and moved towards it, finally coming upon the river he was hoping to find. What he didn't expect to find were those footprints. He never saw anything like them. Makis crouched down, getting a closer look for a moment, and then stood. "Reality television," the boy finally said with both hands on his hips. "We're on a reality television show."

"Somehow, I don't buy it," Hiroto said, looking at the footprints and appearing slightly alarmed. It was only then that he noticed something brush against his leg and realized that the pockets of his pants actually had things tucked inside. "Turn out your pockets," he said to Makis, as he began routing around inside his own. He ended up with a few things in his hands, including his lighter, his Swiss army knife, and his compass, though it was spinning out of control like it somehow broke. He also pulled out a pair of pilot's goggles, folded neatly and stashed in one of the larger side pockets. "Huh," he murmured to himself, turning them over in his hand. "Never seen these before." He then put them with the other items in his one hand and put his other hand deeper into the pocket to check if anything else was in there. And this time, he pulled out a small, light blue gadget with a tiny screen and what seemed to be an antenna of sorts. Again, he turned the item over in his hand, inspecting it, but this thing was even stranger than the goggles. This? He had no idea what it even was.

Makis only had the one pocket on his left hip, but he opened the little cargo pocket anyway and rooted through it. He had a tiny travel flashlight he used for reading after he was supposed to go to bed, a pack of bubblegum, a few hair ties, a travel word search booklet and highlighter, and then a little device identical to the one Hiroto pulled from his pocket. Makis frowned curiously. Why would they both have the same strange little gadget? "You still don't think this is a TV show? The producers must have given us both one of these things. I bet it's a GPS to track us as we move through this place."

"Sign any sketchy-looking waiver forms lately?" Hiroto asked sarcastically, noticing that the little device had a belt clip on the back. He clipped it onto his heavy-duty leather belt, and slipped the other items back into his pockets. Except for the goggles, which he debated over before slipping them onto his head. Might as well—if weather conditions got bad later, they could come in useful. He took a few steps closer to the river to note the direction the water was flowing, but just a moment later, the devices both sprang to life, beeping loudly and displaying a grid-like map and four little red dots on the screen, two of which were stationary and the other two converging on the first pair. And at the exact same time, a roar shook the forest, making birds take off from the trees and the foliage around them shake. "Whatever this is, don't think we should stay here," Hiroto commented as he looked down at the device's screen.

Instead of clipping the device to his belt, Makis decided to keep a hold of it. He assumed the stationary dots were Hiroto and himself. Were the two moving dots another pair of kids? He wasn't so sure he'd be thrilled about the additional company. "Do what you want, but I'm not losing sight of the river. If this is a real jungle, I'm not gonna risk dehydration out there in the bush."

"HEY!" a small, slightly buzzing voice exclaimed from somewhere overhead. Makis looked up, seeing the leaves rustling, and suddenly a little rocket came blasting down towards them. "It's not safe here! You need to take cover!" The strange living machine flew straight at Hiroto. It had a distinctly pointed blue face with big infrared eyes and black horns. The rest of its body looked like a silver miniature rocket complete with a wing on its back and blue flames coming out the tail. Unlike a rocket, however, it had two arms made from green metal, each with three titanium claws. "Hiroto, let's go!"

Hiroto opened his mouth to start arguing with the other boy, but then that little rocket flew straight up to his face. He jumped backwards, grey eyes wide, and then stared intensely at the little... device? Creature? "How do you know my name?" he asked, instantly suspicious.

"Does it matter?!" came a little squeaky voice from down by their feet. A small, furry, dust-colored puffball with long rabbit ears and crescent-shaped red eyes bounced up to them, and was now jumping up and down at Makis' side. "Hey! Makis!" he shouted at the height of his jumps, "We have to run! You guys just got here and you're already in danger!"

"We can talk later about how we know you!" Missimon insisted. "Right now, you're about to become lunch for a Tyrannomon! I'm not strong enough to fight for you yet, so you gotta follow me!" He flew back into the thicket of the jungle, fully expecting Hiroto to run after him.

Makis watched Missimon fly away and hummed. "That one is obviously an RC rocket with a microphone on it. This one, though..." He knelt down, staring at the grey critter and pulling on its ear experimentally. "Maybe it's an animatronic puppet? Whoever made it did a really good job..."

"Stop that!" Pagumon hissed, using his other ear to smack the boy's hand. "That's rude. Now quit gawking and follow him!" he commanded, pointing after Missimon.

Hiroto hesitated, silently calculating and evaluating the situation, but then he saw something across the river. The huge, red, spiked, slavering jaws of what looked like a giant dinosaur parted the trees, and another roar rocked the jungle around them as the creature stepped out onto the bank. "Run!" Hiroto shouted, finally turning tail and rushing after the little missile-like creature.

Makis finally started doubting his own theory about this being some sort of reality television show featuring puppets. Whatever that dinosaur was, it was no puppet, robot, or even a team of men in a suit. Purely on instinct, Makis snatched Pagumon up off the ground and took off after Hiroto. "What the hell is that thing?!"

"I told you, it's a Tyrannomon!" Missimon cried loudly as he weaved through the vines and thick bushes of the jungle. They could hear the fast, thundering footsteps of the monster that took chase behind them. Missimon tried thinking fast before noticing the huge roots of a tree rising up out of the ground and making a good hiding place beneath their tangles. "Dive! Dive!" he buzzed and swooped downward.

Hiroto followed Missimon's command without hesitation, jumping head-first under the roots, sliding across the dirt and scrambling out of the way as Makis slid in after him on his back, holding Pagumon to his chest. The four of them ended up huddled underneath the tree, only being able to listen as the huge creature roared and stomped closer and closer to where they hid. Hiroto held his breath, arms tensed beneath him as Tyrannomon paused right outside their hiding spot, swinging its head back and forth as it tried locating its prey.

Makis buried his face in the top of Pagumon's head to keep himself from making any noise. Tyrannomon's claws dug at the dirt as it grunted and snorted, able to smell the boys but not see them. Even Missimon powered down his engine, coming to land right beside Hiroto. After a few long, painful, terrifying minutes, the Tryrannomon gave up and stomped away. Makis let out a sigh that ruffled Pagumon's grey fur. With a little pop and a flash, Missimon got his engine going and got himself airborne enough to meet Hiroto at eye level. "That was a close one!"

"You're telling me," Hiroto answered, voice strained, clearly a little panicked by this point. "Care to explain what the hell is going on?!"

"I don't blame you for being upset," Pagumon chimed in, seemingly unfazed by Makis having picked him up and buried his face in his fur. "I'd be livid if I suddenly woke up in another world without anyone telling me."

"Another world?" Hiroto echoed.

"Yes, another world. We've been waiting for you two to get here," Pagumon answered matter-of-factly.

"Waiting a really long time," Missimon added. "I'm so glad you're finally here, Hiroto Matsutani!" His eyes flashed red, showing his excitement, along with the fuller blast from his exhaust. "My name is Missimon. I'm your Digimon! Together, we'll get big and strong!" He even reached out one of his mechanical hands for a greeting.

Hiroto looked dumbfounded, reaching out one of his own hands and receiving a firm shake to one of his fingers. "You're going to have to explain to me what a Digimon is," he said slowly.

"Digimon stands for digital monster," Pagumon said, looking up at Makis as he spoke. "You two were summoned here because our world needs your help, and we're the partners who've been sent to help you."

Missimon chuckled. "Sure, that's the simple way of putting it, but we're more than that. fthe Digital World, and sometimes when enough of a kind of data comes together, you get a Digimon! I'm made up of military info, rocket engine info, and sci-fi theory. Which basically means I'm super cool inside and out. Pagumon there came from data about dust bunnies, hahaha!"

Pagumon narrowed his eyes at the jab and spat a bubble at Missimon, and started to cackle when it popped right in the other Digimon's face and made him hit the ceiling.

Makis continued staring at Pagumon, and then he looked over at Hiroto. "So when's the part where we wake up?"

"I'm waiting for it," Hiroto answered, looking between the two creatures, trying to piece together what they were saying into something that made a lick of sense. He wasn't having an easy time of it. "So... what exactly do we do now?" he proposed to the creatures, trying to get their attention back on the matter at hand. "Explain to us what's supposed to be going on, here."

Missimon's flames turned bright yellow as he came close to attacking Pagumon right back, but Hiroto's question brought him back on topic. "Well, we aren't _totally_ sure what's going on, y'see."

Makis crossed his legs and put Pagumon down on the ground when the little grey puff ball started squirming around too much. "That isn't exactly a strong start to asking us for help," he hummed.

Missimon's engines sputtered. "I'm not plugged in to every single thing that happens in the whole Digital World! Look, Digimon are getting deleted when they shouldn't be. Nothing wrong with their code, going along minding their own business, and then zap! Gone!"

Pagumon closed his eyes, nodding solemnly. "It's true. Missimon saw it happen with his own two eyes. And me—I heard a voice that told me that we had to wait for you guys, and to take you and go find Varodurumon. Does that answer your question?"

"I guess," Hiroto answered, scratching at the closely-cut hairs on the back of his neck. "Though this whole Digimon concept isn't really sinking in."

"Don't worry, you'll get it eventually," Pagumon assured him.

Makis blinked slowly, looking caught between bored and still nervous from the Tyrannomon attack. "Was it God? The voice that told you to wait for us?"

"What's God?" Pagumon asked genuinely. "And anyway, I dunno who it was."

Makis hummed again. "I guess if you don't know..."

"Hey, Hiroto!" Missimon put a little boost in his engine and hovered excitedly near the boy's head. "Did you happen to find a Digivice when you woke up? You're gonna need it to make me big and strong!"

"Digivice?" Hiroto echoed. He seemed to be just repeating a lot of uncommon terminology today. He thought for a second and then remembered the little blue devices. "You mean this?" he asked, unhooking it from his belt and holding it up to the little robotic creature.

"Yeah! Yeah! That's it!" Missimon exclaimed, looking like he might explode into fireworks from the excitement.

When Hiroto presented his Digivice, Makis reached for his, but then realized it was missing. He remembered having it in his hand when the Digimon appeared. Tyrannomon showed up after that and he grabbed Pagumon, so... "I dropped mine."

"Oh, geez," Pagumon said, covering his face with his ears.

"Is that bad?" Hiroto asked.

"Is it bad?!" Pagumon barked, suddenly jumping out of Makis' arms and bouncing angrily in his lap. "Those little devices are the only things that can make us evolve into bigger, stronger forms! We can't protect you from guys like that Tyrannomon without 'em! So yeah, it's bad! And we gotta go back and find it!"

Makis simply shrugged and crawled out from under the roots. Luckily, Tyrannomon left a path of flattened and broken vegetation in its wake, so the boy easily found his way back towards the river. "Did somebody forget to program that kid with a personality or what?" Missimon whispered into Hiroto's ear. Makis started looking around. He noticed all the large, fresh footprints and wondered if his Digivice got flattened into the mud. Hopefully, it wasn't the worst case of the device getting knocked into the river, washing it who knows where by now.

Hiroto crawled out from underneath the roots as well, following behind Makis a few feet back, while Pagumon bounced angrily at the boy's feet. Missimon didn't manage to get a laugh or even a smirk out of Hiroto, but he did get a solemn nod of agreement. "Tell me about it." Clearly, it was a bit of a pot calling the kettle black situation. They came upon the river, with Makis standing at the edge of the water, and Pagumon down in one of the huge footprints, trying to see if he could spot the device. "If it was down there, don't you think it would be crushed?" Hiroto asked as he came to the edge of the footprint.

"Digivices are surprisingly resilient," Missimon explained. "They have to withstand battles and the trials of adventure, after all."

Makis crouched down, moving debris around in search of his Digivice. He wasn't especially urgent about it as he still waited to wake up from his bizarre dream. It took a few minutes, but he finally pushed away a fallen branch from over another footprint and saw part of the blue device sticking out of the mud. Makis dug it out and then showed it to Pagumon. "Do you eat it?"

"Don't be dumb," Pagumon answered, slapping the boy's ankle with his ear. "It's a machine; why would you eat it? No, you activate it."

"How?" Hiroto asked. He was pressing buttons on his Digivice, but he couldn't make it do anything. It didn't light up or beep no matter what he did. "It was making noise before, but now I can't even make it turn on."

"It's a machine," Makis said while pointing at Missimon. "Are you saying machines don't eat machines?"

"Excuse me! I'm not an _it_ , I'm a Digimon! Missimon! Call me a 'he' if you want. Also, I'm a _cyborg_ not a machine. Cybernetic organisms are made up of both bio-organic and biomechatronic parts, so I have biological insides underneath my machine parts. I eat regular food and turn it into fuel!"

Makis blinked again, completely deadpan. "I thought you said you were made of data."

"You got no manners, kid!" Missimon huffed, waving his claws at Makis and smoke puffing out his exhaust. "You needed to spend some more time in your egg!"

Makis glanced at Hiroto. "Egg?"

Hiroto looked over at Makis and shrugged his shoulders. "All Digimon come from eggs," Pagumon explained matter-of-factly, before waving his ears to get attention on him. "Now, this is all very exciting stuff, but the point is that we need to figure out how to get these Digivices working for you two, so we can go and find Varodurumon!"

"Sure, but humans..." Makis trailed off. On second thought, he didn't want to get into a discussion about the birds and the bees with something that hatched from a computer egg.

"And who is Varodurumon?" Hiroto asked.

"Well," Pagumon said, looking surprised to be paid attention to so quickly, "he's the guardian of the sky. Some say he's an ancient Digimon who's been around since the Digital World was created!"

"Uh-huh," Hiroto said, having crouched down to be on Pagumon's eye level. "So like, since the 80s?"

"What?" Pagumon answered, before pouting when he realized Hiroto was sassing him, and smacked his cheek with a fluffy ear.

"He's right, though. You said the Digital World formed from Internet data, right? The Internet has only been around since the 1980s. Sorry to burst your bubble, but your ancient civilization is only 35 years old at best," Makis explained.

Missimon's engines sputtered again. "You two have a lot of nerve! Look here, our world is in danger! Digimon are dying! You two were specially chosen to help save the Digital World. That makes you Chosen Children. Heroes! We're here to help you, but we can't unless you start believing in us! If you don't have faith in our strength, then those Digivices will never activate, and we'll never Digivolve to our full potential!"

Makis fell quiet. Dream or not, this _did_ sound serious. He supposed the least he could do was go along with it. He'd either end up with one wild dream, or he'd end up a hero. "Okay."

Hiroto glanced up at Makis, surprised to hear him agree. But then he stood, brushing off his pants and nodding. "Yeah, okay. I'll do what I can. Lead the way."

"Great!" Pagumon said, grinning a fanged grin. "First order of business is to find somebody who can help us get to Varodurumon."

"Where is this guy, anyway?" Hiroto asked.

Pagumon raised his eyebrows and then pointed straight up into the sky. "Guardian of the sky," he said, like it needed no explanation.

"Oh damn, and here I forgot my wings at home," Makis said, which earned him a glare from Pagumon.

"I can fly everyone in my Mega form, but we don't have time to wait that long," Missimon insisted.

Makis sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, look, you guys know this world better than we do, so it kinda seems up to you to get us there."

"There's several floating cities in the Digital World, high above the clouds. They're collectively referred to as the Sky Zone. My best guess is that one of the cities in the Sky Zone must be close to where Varodurumon lives," Pagumon said. "If we can make it up there, we can find out. There's a town called Toy Town here on this island that has the ability to float and land as it pleases. So I think that should be our first stop."

"So we're on an island?" Hiroto chimed in. "What's this island called?"

"File Island! There are some other continents here in the Digital World, but not that we've ever been there. My egg hatched over in Factorial Town. It's a couple weeks’ hike from here, but we're not heading that way, so it's not important." Missimon hovered out over the water. "This is File River. We're on the Tropical Jungle side. There's a bridge further upstream that could take us across to File City, but we're not going there, either."

"Please, tell us more about all these places we're _not_ going," droned Makis.

Pagumon slapped Makis on the ankle again. "We _are_ going to Overdell," he interrupted. "It's through the jungle, in the direction we started to run. From there, we can pass through the Great Canyon, and that should bring us to the proper side of the island that Toy Town is on." He frowned slightly as he added, "I'll admit that I've never been any farther than this side of the canyon, so I don't know what lies beyond."

"Guess we're gonna find out," Hiroto said before waving his hand and leading the way back into the thick of the jungle.

Missimon grinned and flared his engine. "Forward march!" he exclaimed happily and flew along to catch up with his partner. "So, Hiroto, what do you like doing for fun where you’re from?"

Makis frowned when Hiroto decided to just lead the pack. He was like this in gym class, too, making himself captain every time and then dictating the teams. "Seems reckless, don't you think? What if the canyon doesn't even lead anywhere? What if it just ends?"

"Then we'll have to go around the other way," Pagumon said. "But that'd take much, much longer, and we'd have to go through the swamp. Do you wanna go through the swamp?"

Makis frowned at the idea of trekking through a murky, foul-smelling swamp, but he didn't like the idea of this canyon, either. He didn't like the idea of riding a floating island up into the clouds. Makis was terrified of heights, but he wasn't about to go saying so. Hiroto would probably just bark something insensitive at him. "I guess this way is fine..."

"Uh, well," Hiroto said, picking their path carefully so they didn't end up in mud or thick underbrush, envying Missimon as the little Digimon scooted along happily in the air. "I play sports, I guess. I'm captain of the football team at school and I do judo, too." He then looked at the creature, quirking an eyebrow. "Do you... know what those are?"

The little rocket laughed. "I know what judo is! I'll be able to do it when I Digivolve far enough. Well, technically taijutsu, but just the same. I'm really looking forward to it!" Missimon scratched one of the corners on his face with two of his claws. "Football doesn't sound familiar, though. I don't know what school is, either. Is it like Primary Village?"

"I don't know what a Primary Village is," Hiroto said, frowning. "Sounds like a daycare, which isn't really what school is... It's like... a place you have to go every day in order to get educated and learn stuff. And football is... Eh... Maybe I'll just show you a video sometime. This is a digital world, right? So, you guys have computers?"

"Why do you have to go to school in order to learn stuff?" Missimon asked, sounding confused. "I learned everything I need to know just by being out in the world! And yeah, we have computers, but they aren't as easy to find as you might think. Most times, they don't act like the computers you're used to. You'll come to learn that not everything in the Digital World is what it seems. That's part of its charm, though!"

"Charm, huh..." Hiroto said, looking around at the blue and purple foliage.

Missimon laughed. "I might be a little biased since I live here and all."

"What about you, Makis?" Pagumon asked, after overhearing Missimon and Hiroto talking. "Tell me about yourself."

"Me?" Makis actually seemed surprised that Pagumon wanted to know more about him. "You already know my name... I just turned 17 last month. I'm in the same class with Hiroto at school, but we aren't friends or anything." He crossed his arms over his chest as he walked. "I... have a mom and a dad. Um..."

"What do you like to do?" Pagumon pressed, smiling up at the boy encouragingly. It seemed strange, considering how apt the little creature was to huffing and smacking people when he didn't get his way.

Makis glanced down at Pagumon and then fixed his eyes on the ground in front of him. "I guess I like drawing and singing. My mom is an opera singer. I don't have a voice like hers, but I'll sing alone in the shower or in the car with her. Also... I like making puppets."

"Wow," Pagumon said, sounding awed, red eyes going wide as he bounced a little bit higher. "That's a lot of stuff! Do you think I'll be able to see what you make someday? Or hear you sing?"

"Oh, I mean... Probably not?" Makis obviously had no clue as to the more-or-less everlasting friendship he was destined to make with Pagumon. "I don't share my interests with other people that much. Ever."

"Hey, Hiroto, you didn't tell me what this school thing is all about," Missimon insisted and tapped his partner on the shoulder. "Don't humans just learn out in the world? You learn by doing, right? Experience! Experience is the best teacher."

"Well sure, but you need to be taught stuff like math and history in school," Hiroto explained. Man, he felt like he was hanging out with his niece. He hadn't talked this much since the last time he saw her. "So we have schools to make sure all the kids growing up in our country are all educated on the same stuff."

"Math, huh?" Missimon tapped the angles on his face with his claws again. "I guess I was born already knowing math. One of the perks of being a Digimon, I guess. Oh! Speaking of being born, what did your egg look like? Mine was black with red, yellow, and green dots all over it. Hmmm..." He circled around Hiroto's head a few times. "Maybe you hatched from a tan and grey egg?"

"I didn't come from an egg, Missimon," Hiroto explained, shaking his head, seemingly unfazed by the absurd suggestion.

Meanwhile, Pagumon pouted. "Why not? We're gonna be best friends! Besides, I'm not a people, anyway. I'm a Digimon."

Makis folded his arms in a little tighter. "I dunno. I guess I always figured other people would tease me or something. Guys don't sing and draw pictures, you know? I mean, look at that meathead. You think he wouldn't laugh if I tried singing in front of him?"

"I don't think he laughs at anything," Pagumon answered honestly.

That actually made a tiny smirk crack across Makis' lips and he breathed out a chuckle. "You might be right."

"Didn't come from an egg?" Missimon echoed and waved his clawed hands around. "Well geez, if you didn't hatch from an egg, where the heck did you come from? Were you a direct download? Does that mean your code is custom from the other Hirotos in your world?"

"There are no other Hirotos. I mean, not ones just like me," Hiroto answered earnestly, shaking his head still. "Trying to explain where humans come from would be a long explanation, but let's just say that it seems to be different from how you Digimon are born."

"Truly poetic," Pagumon commented, smiling when he heard Makis laugh, however slightly.

"Wow! Wow! You mean you're the only Hiroto in the whole wide world just like you?!" Missimon boosted his engine so he could get in front of the boy face-to-face. "My personality is unique to me, but I'm still one in thousands of other Missimon in the Digital World. You really for truly are the only Hiroto with your code and your physical design?" He hovered a bit so he could see Makis. "And you too? Are you the only Makis?"

The pale boy blinked, looked down at Pagumon—wondering if the grey Digimon had the same assumptions—and then looked back at the little rocket. "Well, yeah, of course I'm the only one. Other than twins, no two humans ever have been, ever are, or ever will be exactly alike."

"No way! Whoa! Wow!"

Pagumon saw that glance and shrugged his ears up like arms. "I assumed that humans would be this way, but it's not so surprising that he's shocked. The closest thing we have to humans here in the Digital World? They look like humans, but they all look alike."

"That's... creepy," Hiroto commented flatly, sticking his hands in his pockets.

"You may think so, but looking alike is normal for Digimon. It's our fantastic personalities that set us apart," Pagumon said, beaming smugly. Clearly, he counted his own personality as one of the fantastic ones.

"Being paired with Chosen Children makes us stand out too," Missimon added and thumped his hand against his chest. "But what about you, Makis? Can you tell me where humans come from? Hiroto says you don't hatch from eggs."

Makis looked nervous, suddenly put on the spot. "Well, not an egg with a hard shell on it, but I guess an egg _is_ involved..." He felt his face and neck grow hot, so he pulled one of the elastics from his pocket and pulled back his hair into a ponytail. "Before I even try explaining the details, it won't do any good unless you have a grasp on the concept of males versus females. So far, the two of you seem pretty... un-gendered?"

"Yes, I suppose that's fair to say. Technically we Digimon—" Pagumon started, only to stop when he saw Hiroto put up his arm and stop walking suddenly.

“I hear something…”


	2. Welcome to the Jungle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dance with the Devil (c) Breaking Benjamin

"I hear something," Hiroto said, eyes trained on the thick jungle surrounding them. He listened intently, and after a few minutes, everyone else would be able to feel the rumbling beneath their feet. Something big, like Tyrannomon, was going to pass through. "What's our best course of action?" Hiroto asked Missimon, voice raised slightly in urgency.

When nothing immediately crossed their path, Makis came close to insisting Hiroto was just paranoid, but then the rumbling started. "Why is it even a question? We need to hide!"

"No, wait!" Missimon insisted and held up his hands. "Pagumon and I will never get stronger if we don't stand and fight! We're here to protect both of you. It's in our code. Our destiny! With your Digivices and faith in our strength, we can turn into bigger, stronger Digimon. Understand? Our physical forms will change and we'll become completely different Digimon capable of stronger attacks. We'll face any foe, so long as you lend us your strength to do it!"

"How do I lend you my strength?" Hiroto asked, looking skeptical but clearly up for trying to make the creature change. "Something to do with this?" he asked, taking the Digivice into his hand and brandishing it at Missimon. "Do you... plug into it or something?"

Missimon shook his head. "No, I told you; you have to believe in me!"

Makis unclipped his own Digivice from his belt. He saw the little bars of a meter slowly filling up the screen, and then looked to see Pagumon ruffled and twitching with anticipation. Faith and strength, huh? Makis held the Digivice against his chest, squeezing his eyes shut. "Pagumon, I need you to protect me from whatever's coming. Please get stronger so I don't have to be scared!"

Just as Makis spoke, a huge, furry blob of a Digimon burst through the trees. It was all brown, tangled fur, with yellow eyes that peeked through, rounded ears, and exposed hands for swinging on branches, which is exactly where it fell from when it landed in front of the group. It snarled loudly, and Pagumon seemed to instantly react.

"Pagumon Digivolve to..." The device in Makis' hand began screeching, and a white light engulfed Pagumon. The Digimon's tiny form began morphing, and it became larger, until the light finally faded away and exposed a bunny-like Digimon, standing up on all four legs. He had big, floppy ears, but unlike a rabbit, he also had a short snout full of sharp teeth, long black claws, and a whip-like tail. "Gazimon!" he proclaimed, before turning to Makis and grinning at him. "I'll get 'em for you, Makis! Get to cover! Electric Stun Blast!" he proclaimed, shooting a black ball of energy from his mouth at the Digimon before them.

Hiroto, meanwhile, couldn't seem to get his Digivice to work and spent the last few seconds staring wide-eyed at the newly transformed Gazimon, before coming to attention and dodging out of the way when the fight suddenly began.

Makis stared in awe of his Digimon as well. Gazimon looked sort of the same, but also completely different. And Makis made that happen? He jumped when that ball of black energy shot out and then gasped when JungleMojyamon retaliated with its Jungle Bone. Makis dove under the brush where Hiroto also hid. "Hiroto, what's wrong?!" cried Missimon, who hovered over the boy's shoulder, still in his small In-Training form.

Makis put his hand atop Hiroto's hand holding the Digivice. "It's like praying," he tried explaining. "You've prayed before, right? Pray to Missimon."

"Uh," Hiroto answered, looking from Makis to his Digimon to the device still silent in his hands. His fingers twitched, unsure, but then he did as he saw Makis do, and squeezed his eyes shut. But he couldn't come up with anything eloquent to say and ended up just whispering “c'mon, c'mon...” under his breath over and over, picking up the pace when JungleMojyamon slammed another attack to the ground, making the foliage around them shake and tremble.

It wasn't perfect, but Hiroto's urgency and desperation were enough to spark something. "Missimon Digivolve to..." Missimon shot out of the bushes mid-glow, his shape growing larger and heavier until he landed on the ground in the form of a dinosaur patterned with blue and grey camouflage, and with orange eyes. He wore a helmet and vest akin to a combat soldier, had big teal and grey metallic hands and feet with silver claws, and sported an M16 assault rifle. "Commandramon! DCD Bomb!" he declared, grabbing one of the grenades from the front of his vest and throwing it at JungleMojyamon.

Hiroto's jaw fell open, completely stunned. "Cool," he gasped.

Gazimon grinned when he saw Commandramon enter the fray. "Nice of you to join me!" he teased, leaping high into the air with claws outstretched, swiping at JungleMojyamon when the brute passed underneath him in a failed charging headbutt.

"My kid's a late bloomer, I guess," Commandramon retorted. Even now, he felt a little unstable in his new form, so he'd need to attack with all his gusto while it lasted. Just as Gazimon's swiping claws stunned JungleMojyamon, Commandramon pivoted with his gun aimed. "M16 Assassin!"

"I don't think a better Digimon could have been cherry picked for you," said Makis as both boys watched the fight from the safety of their hiding spot.

"It's a dinosaur with an M16," Hiroto said, still gaping at his partner's new form. Then he looked at Gazimon as the Digimon stylishly fell to the ground, sneered, and then turned around and shot more energy blasts at their foe. "Yours looks like he wants to take my lunch money."

"Sure, but he's a soldier through and through. You come from a big military family, right? That thing is right up your alley." Makis watched Gazimon, and while not unimpressed, did feel skeptical. "I'm not really sure what Gazimon says about me..." Except maybe the demonic rabbit was a reflection of how Makis felt most of the time, just nasty and bitter. JungleMojyamon ran forward with its fists swinging wildly, but Commandramon kept a tactical head and threw another DCD Bomb at JungleMojyamon's feet to at least get it down.

The Digimon went toppling onto its back, and then Gazimon leapt up and shot another blast at it. The blast finally took, completely paralyzing the brute, and then Gazimon rushed over to where the boys hid. "Alright, he's only gonna stay down until that attack wears off, so now we run!" he commanded, ushering them both out and then running as fast as he could up the path they'd been following.

Commandramon didn't follow them at first. He hung behind with his gun aimed at the paralyzed JungleMojyamon. A few good rounds from the M16 would see the wild Digimon turned into pixels. After all, what guarantee did they have that JungleMojyamon wouldn't track them down after the paralysis wore off? But before he could attack, Commandramon gasped as a white light engulfed him and he shrank back down into Missimon. He clucked his tongue, annoyed, but then flew off after the others. After running nearly half a mile, Makis had to stop. Even though Hiroto seemed to be maintaining a steady jog and hardly winded, the half-Greek boy couldn't push himself any farther. He leaned forward, hands on his knees and gasping deeply.

The whole group came to a halt when Makis stopped running. But they were in the middle of nowhere and had yet to reach a point that Hiroto deemed safe. He came to an abrupt halt and frowned at the other boy. "C'mon, we have to keep moving. That thing's gonna come after us if we don't find somewhere safe to hide out." Gazimon, in turn, frowned at Hiroto, fluffing up at his tone of voice.

Makis shook his head. "I'm gonna puke. I can't. Just give me a couple minutes."

Missimon flared his boosters and waved at Hiroto. "Let's scout ahead for a shelter. We'll come back for him when we find something."

Hiroto shook his head. "You lose people that way," he insisted, before jogging over to Makis' side. "I'm going to pick you up," he said, less like an option he was offering and more like a warning about something inevitable.

Makis' face turned slightly red. "I don't need to be carri-iieah!" In one motion, Makis found himself slung across Hiroto's shoulders wounded warrior style with one of Hiroto's arms wrapped behind his knees and the other arm around his elbows. "P-Put me down!" the boy demanded, even as the grunt of a teen started jogging again through the jungle with the Digimon at his heels.

"I'll put you down when we find somewhere to camp," Hiroto answered. Gazimon gasped when Hiroto picked his partner up and was now rushing behind them to try and keep up. Finally, after a lot of running, they emerged from the forest, and came instead upon a flat area with huge rock formations lining the edge, marking the beginning of the canyon just on their other side. Inside this formation, Hiroto spotted a cave, slightly elevated from the ground, and with Makis still slung over his shoulder, effortlessly began climbing with one arm holding the other boy and the other reaching for handholds. When they got up onto the ledge, they were just a few feet above the ground, but they were high enough that they'd be able to see anything coming out of the jungle.

They were also high up enough that Gazimon looked horrified that Hiroto scaled it while holding Makis, and after Hiroto placed Makis gently down inside the mouth of the cave, Gazimon ran over and smacked him across the back of the head. "You idiot! What if you'd dropped him?!"

"Ow! I didn't!"

Makis squeezed his eyes shut the second Hiroto started scaling the side of the ledge. Anything more than ten feet off the ground made him feel woozy and his heart race. Ever after Hiroto put him down on the ground, Makis kept a hand on his chest and the other gripped the back of his neck. "Hiroto knows what he's doing!" Missimon growled in defense of his partner. He might have been smaller that Gazimon, but at least his ability to fly meant he could be eye level with the angry grey rabbit. "At least he took the initiative getting us all to safety!"

"Hey," Hiroto said, looking at Gazimon, totally uninterested in getting involved in an argument any further past his initial defense of his actions. "What do you guys eat around here?"

"What?" Gazimon responded. "Uh, well, I guess we just forage for whatever we can fi—"

"Okay. I'm going to go find food," Hiroto responded. "Don't leave the cave. Yell out if you see anything coming." And as quickly as they arrived, Hiroto left, sliding down the edge of the cliff face. Gazimon watched after him with wide red eyes, half alarmed and half still peeved.

"Wait up, Hiroto!" called Missimon who flared his engines and took off after the boy at full speed. He caught up quickly enough, cooled his rockets, and then hovered alongside Hiroto as they foraged. "Remember when I said things in the Digital World aren't always what they seem? Just keep that in mind while we search for food. Be willing to think outside the box, alright?"

"Okay. Define thinking outside of the box," Hiroto responded, switching between scanning the trees for fruit and the ground for possible fruit-bearing bushes or vines.

"It means don't act too surprised when we come across something like this." Missimon spotted a row of filing cabinets lined along the edge of where the forest met the canyon clearing. He flew over to them, grabbed one of the handles, and pulled open a drawer. Inside the drawer was a collection of grilled cheese sandwiches cut into triangles. "These look good!"

Hiroto raised an eyebrow, peering into the drawer. "How can we know if they're safe to eat?" he asked, tone laced with suspicion.

"This is how we eat all the time," Missimon insisted. "Like I said, you gotta keep an open mind. I bet these other drawers..." He pulled open another one, and sure enough, it was full of yogurt cups.

Hiroto frowned at the yogurt. Seemed risky. They had no way of knowing if this stuff was fresh. If digital food could even go bad. He glanced back at the cliff face behind them, and then sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Alright, whatever. Let's find a tree with big leaves that we can make into bags. We'll want to hold onto whatever food we can find for the trip. No clue how long we'll be traveling."

"That sure is a smart idea, Hiroto!" Missimon praised. He flew upward towards some of the larger palm trees and started tugging on the leaves. When one snapped off, he released and let it float down towards the boy. Eventually, Hiroto had enough leaves to start weaving them together creating makeshift satchels, which he then began filling with food.

Meanwhile, Gazimon huffed at their departing forms, before padding over to Makis' side. "Hey, you okay?" he asked, putting a paw on the boy's knee.

"We're up really high," Makis mumbled out while shaking his head.

"Not a fan of heights?" Gazimon prompted, frowning gently. "Would it help you to sit further inside the cave so you can't see down?" Makis nodded and shuffled himself frantically across the ground until his back met with the cave wall. This was just great. How did that meathead expect them to get down from here? Gazimon came to sit next to Makis, still looking concerned. "Anything I can do to help?" he offered.

Again, Makis shook his head. "Not unless you can make the ground come closer to us. I don't do heights. I can't stand heights. Even looking out the window on the second floor of our school makes me light-headed. An entire canyon, like this?"

"Are you going to be okay with crossing the canyon?" Gazimon asked, holding out a fuzzy paw and offering to the boy to grab.

Makis grabbed the offered paw without missing a beat. "Are you seriously asking me that? Look at me. If I'm this freaked out just twenty or thirty feet off the ground, how do you think I'm going to be when we're hundreds or even thousands—" He felt a hot lump jump into his throat just thinking about it. "I can't say anything to Hiroto, though. He doesn't have the patience for someone like me."

Gazimon started to rub his chin with his other paw, squeezing Makis' hand gently. "I'm going to figure out a solution here, Makis. Don't you worry," he assured the boy, smiling a fanged smile. "That's my job."

Makis cast a smile back at Gazimon, but it was laced with anxiety and fear. He didn't even think about letting go of that furry grey paw, even if Hiroto came back and accused him of being weird. _"S-Say goodbye, as we dance with the devil tonight. Don’t you d-dare look at him in the eye, as we dance with the devil t-tonight.”_ Despite insisting only a couple hours ago that Gazimon would probably never hear him sing, Makis proved himself wrong by doing the only thing that normally made him feel better. Singing.

Gazimon's ears perked up and he opened his mouth to make a comment when Makis began singing. But then the little furry creature thought better of it and kept quiet, holding onto the boy's hand.

Out in the jungle, Missimon helped load up the woven leaf bags with grilled cheese sandwiches, yogurt cups, and cookies they found in another drawer. His kid still had that stoic scowl on, though. "Aren't you at all glad that we found some real food instead of just nuts and berries, Hiroto?"

Hiroto continued to frown. "I guess. It seems too convenient, though. Don't you think so? In a survival situation, I'd trust something I found growing. Finding pre-packaged food in the wilderness seems too good to be true."

"Sure, maybe where you're from," Missimon explained, "but here in the Digital World, this is normal. Data from the Internet gathers here and takes form without regard for rhyme or reason. For that very same reason, you shouldn't necessarily trust something you find growing out of the ground here. The same way these filing cabinets aren't what they seemed, mushrooms and berries might not be what they seem either. It won't always be this easy, so take advantage while you can."

"That sounds extremely annoying and worrying for anything trying to survive out here," Hiroto responded, now looking even grumpier, shoulders slumping. "No rhyme or reason? Why? Does it help the ecosystem to be random and weird?"

"It's not weird!" Missimon argued, sounding offended and his flame turning red for a moment. "It's my home, so be nice, okay? When you grow up here, you learn the difference between the good stuff and the bad stuff. Gazimon has a strong sense of smell, even as Pagumon, that lets him know what's safe to eat. I have scanners that analyze anything I'm unfamiliar with." He loaded a few more sandwiches into one of the bags. "Besides, the Digital World doesn't really have an ecosystem. At least, probably not the way you think of it."

"Huh," Hiroto responded, looking skeptical even still. "We'll have to trust you guys to go through the food before we eat it, then. Because I can't make heads or tails of a pre-made sandwich showing up in a forest." But his stomach did growl when he picked one up to deposit into his own bag, so he supposed he didn't have much of a reason to argue. Might as well go along with Missimon's judgment and hope for the best.

Missimon flexed his claws. "Okay, how about this? All these sandwiches, right? These sandwiches probably came from a recipe someone uploaded to the Internet, and that recipe was a file on someone's computer, right? Where do you keep files?"

"Uh. On a hard-drive?" Hiroto responded, scratching at the back of his head. "Are we inside a hard-drive right now, is that what you're telling me?"

"No... No, uh..." Missimon's flame sputtered a pale blue and he sank for a second, but then he sputtered upward again. "Okay, okay. You put files into a file folder, right? And you keep file folders in a..." At which point he gestured toward the filing cabinet.

Hiroto squinted at the filing cabinet. "But this is digital. That doesn't make any sense," he retorted, unwilling to go with the thread of logic Missimon was trying to sell.

Missimon deflated again. "Look, Hiroto, you have to think outside the box a little. The sandwich recipe is a file and so the sandwiches materialized in a filing cabinet. It's where they go. You know all those street signs you guys have? Well, most of the time, any information about them—mostly pictures—shows them stuck in the ground. Well, because of that, street signs grow up out of the ground here in the Digital World. Kinda like flowers."

"By that logic, shouldn't everything be in filing cabinets? Everything on a computer is files," Hiroto argued, crossing his arms and frowning confusedly. "Look, I can think outside the box all I want, but at the end of the day, I need to be able to understand this place's logic fundamentally so that Makis and I can have our best shot at survival. He doesn't look like he's had a day of training, so it's going to be up to me to understand all of this. But I can't wrap my brain around all the variables here. It's too random. There must be some discernible pattern as to why some files would take on a literal meaning, and others would be adapted from images in which they're present. There must be something that separates a sandwich recipe from a signpost."

"Just because Makis hasn't had training doesn't mean he's dumb, Hiroto," said Missimon with a frown. "You two should work together as a team. All four of us are a team. Two sets of partners. As for the sandwiches..." He glanced at the open drawer and then snapped his silver claws. "Oh! You keep food in drawers, right? In fridges and cupboards! Food has to be stored for freshness, so that must be why it goes into a filing cabinet." Missimon hovered higher, looking quite proud of himself. "See? It makes perfect sense."

"Food doesn't go in a filing cabinet, though," Hiroto said, though he did frown at the drawer and put his hand to his chin as if considering the possibility. "We'll still take the sandwiches apart when we get back. Inspect them for mold, fungus, infestation. Other potential hazards. We're not going anywhere until we're sure those monsters have moved on, anyway."

"Hiroto, I'm telling you, the sandwiches are safe to eat. The yogurt is fine, too. I've never really known food to go bad around here." Taking one last peek into a few other drawers in the other cabinets, Missimon found some plastic spoons for eating said yogurt. When the baskets were full, they carried their haul back up to the cave.

Makis heard someone climbing up the face of the cliff and immediately stopped singing. His first fear was that a wild Digimon was climbing up in order to attack, but then Hiroto's face popped up instead and Makis let out a relieved breath. "It's only you..."

Hiroto quirked a brow, but chose not to respond snarkily. "We brought food," he said, throwing his bag up onto the plateau and then climbing up after it, hoisting himself up on his arms until he could get his knees onto the rock. "Missimon insists that food doesn't go bad here, but I'm going to check what we found just in case. It's weird," he said, as he opened the foliage-fashioned bag to reveal the pre-made sandwiches and packaged yogurt cups.

Makis leaned forward only slightly so he could see inside the packs and looked surprised by what he saw. "Oh, you mean _food_ , food. So like, you came across Mother Nature's cafeteria out there?"

"That's a really good way to describe it!" the little rocket exclaimed. "And you thought he wouldn't get it."

Makis frowned. "Why wouldn't I get it?" He pulled a sandwich for himself and let Gazimon sniff it, letting that be a good enough test for him.

"Hiroto here thinks you won't understand the Digital World because you don't have any training."

The pale boy bristled. "Oh, is that what you think? Well, _I_ think that if either of us has the advantage when it comes to understanding this place, it's me because I have an artistic brain."

Hiroto didn't look impressed. "An artistic brain has nothing to do with survival techniques, foraging, combat prep, or even hardware, if we're going to have this argument," he said, snatching the sandwich back and proceeding to turn the bread over, checking for mold, and then separate each layer and put it back on the opposite side of the sandwich. Then he looked at Missimon with a frown. "And you're oversimplifying what I said."

"'He doesn't look like he's had a day of training, so it's going to be up to me to understand all of this.' Those were your exact words," Missimon insisted.

Makis huffed. "Sounds to me like you think anyone who doesn't have military training is dumber than a sack of dirt. Is that what you think? And you know what? An artistic brain is really useful for problem solving because I can look at something and see beyond just the surface."

"I'll believe it when I see it come in useful out here," Hiroto retorted, still frowning at Missimon. He may have been a good protector, but he was an awful wing-man. After inspecting the sandwich to a degree that he found satisfactory, he put it back together and gave it back to Makis, before grabbing another to dissect.

Makis frowned as it became glaringly obvious that Hiroto saw zero value in him whatsoever. So what if he wasn't a military kid or an athlete or even a boy scout? Makis wasn't worthless. "At least my Digimon is still in its new stronger form instead of going back to its small weaker form. What does that say about you, hot shot?"

"Hey!" Missimon barked. "That's hitting below the belt!"

Gazimon fluffed up, embarrassed and flattered by the unexpected praise.

"I don't know, what _does_ it say about me?" Hiroto challenged. "You don't understand how all this works any more than I do."

"Missimon told you half a dozen times that all we have to do to make them stronger is believe in them. We have to believe in their ability to get stronger and protect us. That seems simple enough to me. I was scared and I believed that Pagumon would keep me safe, and then he turned into Gazimon. I saw what he could do and my faith in him is that much stronger, which probably keeps him as Gazimon. If Commandramon went back to being Missimon, it must mean you don't have any faith in him."

Missimon deflated under the accusation, losing his altitude and dropping steadily to the ground with a disappointed look on his face.

"Hey," Hiroto said, reaching over and cupping his hands under Missimon before he hit the cave floor and picking him up. "Do you really have to be mean to him? He turned into Commadramon and did his duty well. Give him a break."

"I'm not being mean to him. It's not his problem, it's your problem," Makis said and pointed a finger right at Hiroto. "Commandramon was amazing. I even said there wasn't a better Digimon suited to you. If you think he did his duty so well, why did you let him go back to being Missimon? Why don't you believe in him?"

Missimon looked up at the boy. "You _do_ believe in me, don't you, Hiroto?"

"Of course I believe in you," Hiroto said, narrowing his eyes angrily at Makis. "I just don't have a handle on this evolving thing. We'll get it figured out." He lifted one hand and patted the little Digimon on the head with two fingers, continuing to frown at Makis. "So, are you always this uplifting?"

Makis huffed. "Just giving you a taste of your own medicine. Doesn't feel good when someone labels you as worthless or incompetent, does it?" He bit into his sandwich with a snap of his teeth.

Hiroto scoffed and rolled his eyes, going back to the sandwich he was taking apart before reassembling it and offering it to Missimon. He was supposed to save the world with this kid? This was not going to end well. Finally, he managed to approve and distribute the rest of the food to the entire party, and then ended up sitting at the front of the cave watching out for dangerous Digimon as the sun went down. He and Makis hadn't said a word to each other since they ate, but Hiroto finally spoke up when he heard Makis shifting inside the cave behind him. "I'll keep watch first, but I'm going to wake you up at some point to switch off with me. Then we'll set off in the morning."

"I'm not getting anywhere near the mouth of this cave until I don't have a choice, and that's when we leave it for solid ground," Makis replied with a decided edge to his voice. He curled himself up as deeply in the cave as possible with Gazimon between him and the opening. "If nothing has attacked us by now, I think we're fine. We should both get a full night's sleep instead." Besides, if they were lucky, they'd wake up back in their own beds.

Missimon took perch on Hiroto's shoulder while they ate. Now, his eyes blinked red before looking at his human. "The area is currently clear, Hiroto. Maybe you _should_ use the chance to get some sleep."

"What if something shows up in the middle of the night, though? We'd be sitting ducks," Hiroto argued, crossing his arms disapprovingly. "No one's getting hurt—or eaten—on my watch."

"Hiroto, if you're exhausted tomorrow from staying up all night, you won't be any good to anyone," Missimon insisted, now fretting over his boy's well-being. "The Great Canyon won't be easily traversed. One slip and you could fall and get seriously hurt. We'll only be going up from here until we find the walkway over into Freezeland."

Makis tensed up at that news. He was _not_ looking forward to going any further up than their current location, especially if the ground beneath their feet was going to be so precarious.

Hiroto stuck firm. "I can function just fine without one night's sleep. But if someone gets killed in the middle of the night, then the canyon will be the least of our worries. You sleep Missimon. I'll be fine," he said, patting the little Digimon on the head again.

"I'll at least stay awake with you as long as I can," Missimon replied. The little rocket smirked. "Brothers in arms, right? We stick together, because as long as we're together, we'll get the glory."

Hiroto couldn't help cracking a smile at that, even if it looked a little painful for him to keep it up for more than a few seconds. "I like the sound of that," he said, letting Missimon settle on his shoulder and turning his eyes to the jungle, determined on surveillance until the morning light rose over the jungle skyline.


	3. The Great Canyon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Swamp Song (c) Tool

Makis awoke the next morning when sunlight flooded the little cave. He yawned, sat up and stretched before noticing Hiroto still at the mouth of the cave. Did the guy actually stand post all night? He picked a couple yogurt cups for Gazimon and himself for breakfast. "I'm guessing by the lack of a fight breaking out in the middle of the night, that you could have gotten yourself some sleep like I suggested."

"Easy to say that after the night's already passed," Hiroto answered. He seemed awake and alert, though his deadpan voice seemed a little more like a drone than usual. He gently pat Missimon, trying to rouse the Digimon from his slumber.

"It was easy to say last night when I suggested it," Makis said again. 

Missimon powered on, his engine sputtering to life until his flames were at full blast and he got himself airborne. "Good morning, Hiroto!"

"Morning. How'd you sleep?" Hiroto asked. 

"I slept pretty well, thanks. I had some neato dreams about you and me fighting the bad guys together. It was awesome!" 

Meanwhile, Gazimon yawned and fluffed himself up, coming up next to Makis and accepting his yogurt gratefully. "So, he really tanked the sandman, huh? Not too shabby," he commented, as he watched Hiroto chat with Missimon.

Makis hummed around the spoon in his mouth. "Unnecessary is more the word I'd use for it. I told him we didn't have anything to worry about in this cave, but like a stubborn mule, he kept himself awake all night for no reason."

Gazimon couldn't help snickering. "I dunno what a mule is, but stubborn sure works. Is he always like that?" Gazimon asked, as he fumbled with the spoon in his claws, and eventually just ended up sticking one claw in the yogurt cup and licking it off, trying to be as polite and quiet about it as possible despite his struggling.

"He seems to be that way in school. I don't know him personally. We don't hang out or anything. He sits one row in front of me in class since our last names are so close." Makis licked the yogurt off his spoon and his teeth clicked against the plastic as he spoke. "All day he sits ramrod straight and he wears his gakuran with all the buttons done all the way up. I think intense is a better word to describe him than stubborn. He bows with his arms directly at his sides, he doesn't let himself or anyone else do classroom chores less than perfectly, he dictates the teams in every gym class..."

"So he's a perfectionist?" Gazimon asked, nodding his head slowly, as if he was suddenly coming to an understanding, as he recalled Hiroto taking apart their sandwiches before they were allowed to eat. "Okay, I think I get it."

"You could call him a perfectionist, yeah, but not in a good way. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to my puppets, but only because their quality is a reflection of my craftsmanship. He has to do everything one hundred percent correct one hundred percent of the time. He's like a machine or something."

It was then that Hiroto stood up, looking over at them from the cave mouth. "The sun will be high enough for us to start heading through the mountain pass into the canyon in fifteen minutes, so let's be ready to head out then."

Makis swallowed a lump in his throat. That meant he'd have to climb back down the cliff. He wasn't so sure he could. Gazimon had opened his mouth to ask another question, but clamped it shut when Hiroto came close to them, taking two yogurts for him and Missimon and then going back to the mouth of the cave, sitting on the edge of the mountain ridge and inspecting the seals on both yogurt cups before letting Missimon start eating his. "Why do you think he's like that?" Gazimon asked, in a newly hushed voice.

Makis just ate another spoonful of yogurt when Hiroto came closer. He didn't even bother sparing the guy a glance. "I dunno, but I think his parents have something to do with it. I saw them at parent-teacher conference day. All the parents come in and meet with our teachers while also watching us do school stuff. They both came in military uniforms and neither one of them smiled very much. They didn't even hug him. Hiroto bowed to his mom and shook his dad's hand. I couldn't tell if they were happy or proud of him or anything... It was weird."

"But your parents aren't like that?" Gazimon asked curiously, scooting closer to his partner. "I never had parents. That's not normal, then?"

"O-Oh, well..." Makis blinked, looking away nervously and then back at Gazimon. "Maybe I shouldn't say 'not normal,' because normal is different for different people, but... I still think it's kinda weird for parents not to hug their kids. My parents... encourage me to be creative and think for myself. My dad is a historian, which means he studies history specific to a period in time or geographical region. His concentration has always been third and fourth century Greece. He travelled there on a job right after college, and that's where he met my mom. She's a classically trained opera singer. When she had me, she stopped singing and stayed at home with me until I went to junior high, and then she started singing again. Both she and dad travel a lot for their jobs, but they always make sure to come home together for the week of my birthday and we take at least one family vacation together every year. They give me lots of hugs and talk to me and show an interest in the things I like."

Gazimon didn't understand a lot of what Makis was talking about-- Greece, opera, and vacations were all foreign concepts-- but what the boy was describing sounded nice. He nodded his head, seemingly contented. "They sound cool. I hope I get to meet them someday, Makis."

Makis smiled a little. "They might think you're one of my puppets."

Gazimon snickered, putting a paw up to his snout. "Well, feel free to take the credit for my amazing construction, then. I wouldn't mind."

Missimon struggled with his yogurt cup, both it and the spoon too big for him to use at the same time. He had to set the cup on the ground and use both hands for dipping the spoon in and then licking it clean almost like an ice cream cone. He didn't want to complain about his small size, knowing Hiroto might only feel guilty. "Do you spend lots of time outside, Hiroto? You sure seem to know a lot about the outdoors."

"Do I spend a lot of time outside?" Hiroto repeated, almost sounding confused by the question. "Not really. I mean, not lately, I guess. My parents used to take me outside into the forest behind our house to teach me things I might need to know in survival situations. But I spend most of my time inside studying now that I'm in school. I think most kids do, with entrance exams for university on the horizon."

Missimon wasn't sure what an exam or university was, but he liked anything about the great outdoors. "You have a whole forest behind your house? That's so cool! And your parents know how to do survival stuff? They must be pretty good, because you're doing an awesome job so far. You found shelter and kept us safe overnight and you even know how to read the sun!"

"Thanks," Hiroto said, accepting the compliment with a slightly bowed head. "My parents are way better, though. They probably wouldn't have accidentally fell into another dimension in the first place." It was then that Hiroto put a concerned hand on his chin. What about his parents, now that he thought about it? They probably woke up this morning and found him gone. What was probably happening in his household right now? Would his parents assume he ran away? And if so, for what reason would they assume he left? He frowned as he thought about it, then shook his head and dismissed the image. "Either way, I'm here now, so I'm going to do my best to keep us all from getting killed. Or lost. Or eaten. Whichever of those is the biggest threat."

"You didn't come here by accident!" declared Missimon. He even pointed his spoon at Hiroto like some kind of king's sword honoring a knight. "You were chosen, Hiroto. You're a Chosen Child! Something picked you especially for this task and brought you to the Digital World. You serve a purpose here. Don't forget that."

"Something who?" Hiroto asked, putting his chin in his hand. "I really wish I knew who called us here. And I also wish I knew ahead of time so I could actually bring some useful equipment. Waking up here with no rations or portable shelter or tools is... Worrying."

Missimon lowered the spoon. "I don't really know who the something is either, but they must know what they're doing. If it was strong enough to bring you here from your world, it must be powerful and wise. As for all that other stuff," the little Digimon grinned, "you'll find a way, Hiroto!"

"That's very vague," Hiroto sighed, but he reached over and pat the little Digimon on the head thankfully anyway. "But your faith in me is somewhat comforting. If maybe a little misadvised considering my complete lack of knowledge about your world. But thanks." He ended up shrugging, digging back into his yogurt so they could finish before his self-imposed fifteen minute time limit.

Those fifteen minutes ended too quickly for Makis. He watched Hiroto load himself up with the leaf-woven satchels of food and then hopped down the side of the cliff like it was no big deal. Makis felt his knees turn into jelly and his face got hot from all his anxiety. The boy ended up crawling on his hand and needs to the ledge where he peeked over the side. To him, it seemed like the ground was a mile away. He broke out into a sweat. "Gazimon, I... I c-can't..."

"How can I help?" Gazimon asked, crouching next to the boy and frowning at Hiroto, standing impatiently at the bottom. "Is there something I can do that would make it easier?"

"Make the ground come closer." Makis squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his face into the ground. Why did he have to be so afraid of heights? "What if I fall, Gazimon? Falling is so freaky. You can't stop a fall. Your body is completely out of your control. I don't want to fall."

"I'd offer to catch you, but I'm half your size," Gazimon said. He then looked at Hiroto, with his scowl and his crossed arms. "Hey, you! Come here and spot Makis." 

"What? It's not that high up," Hiroto argued. 

"Come here!" Gazimon snarled, making a frantic pointing motion at the ground below. Hiroto exhaled, but didn't make much more of a fuss than that, and came to stand right beneath where Makis was crouched with his arms raised, ready to catch him if he fell.

Makis looked down at Hiroto below, though the frown on his face wasn't at all reassuring. "Chivalry is a key part of Bushido," said Missimon as he hovered over Hiroto's shoulder. "You're doing a kind thing."

Makis swallowed again and looked at Gazimon. "Will you hold my hand as I go down?" Knowing he was reaching the point of inevitability, the boy turned around and slowly crawled his way backward over the ledge. His shoes slid against the rocks, making him whimper and freeze, but then he felt a fuzzy paw grab one of his hands. Makis let out a nervous exhale before climbing down the face of the slope. Gazimon used his three other paws to help keep himself clinging to the rock as he crawled forward down the cliff side, grasping Makis' hand. It was sort of a silly sight, but when they finally reached the ground and Makis plucked him off the side of the steep decline, Gazimon didn't seem all that phased. Hiroto was looking at them skeptically, eyes darting between the climbing job he just watched and the mountain pass they were about to go through, but he ended up leading the way without a word about it.

"You sure you want to go through the canyon and not the swamp?" Gazimon asked Makis.

"I would rather trek through ten swamps than go through this canyon," Makis answered. He kept holding Gazimon to his chest—the Digimon facing outward—like one might hold a teddy bear. "But the last thing Hiroto wants to do is backtrack the way we came all because of my dumb fear. He exudes so much testosterone it's disgusting, and I don't feel like butting horns with him." Makis hugged his Digimon a bit tighter. "I guess I'll just have to suck it up..."

Gazimon didn't seem to like that answer judging by the way he fluffed up, but he stayed quiet. Hiroto led them from the edge of the jungle to the flat pass that led into the canyon, with the mountain in the middle of the island towering up on one side, and the edges of the canyon on the other. As they walked, they came upon a huge mansion, gated off behind a tall, wrought iron fence and sitting on a plot of land that seemed to pull double function as both garden and graveyard, judging by the headstones on either side of the path leading up to the mansion’s front door. Outside stood two Digimon, each around Hiroto's height and made completely out of black, constantly burning fire, except for their bronze metallic helmets.

"Missimon... whose mansion is that?" Hiroto asked, cautiously, keeping a wide berth from the Digimon standing at the gated entrance, even though they made no signs of moving.

"Myotismon lives there," Missimon answered. "He's king of the Undead Digimon and was resurrected from an old computer virus. He isn't very strong during the daytime, though, so we aren't in any danger, especially first thing in the morning. Nobody ever goes in there, but that almost got him into a heap of trouble. One time, he almost died of starvation, but I heard that someone—rumor has it a human—actually went inside and saved Myotismon."

"A human?" Hiroto asked, squared-off eyebrows rising up. "So there have been others before us who've been brought here?" 

"Sure, from different universes," Gazimon piped up. 

Hiroto put a hand to his temple, rubbing gently. "Okay... Humans from other universes. Sure."

"Were they chosen like us to do something special?" Makis asked. "Why not call on them again?" 

"We don't know all the laws of the Digital World," replied Missimon and raised his claws. "Those humans served their purpose. Now it's your turn. Only one other human ever remains in the Digital World at all times—the same human who rescued Myotismon—but he's elusive. We only know him as the Legendary Tamer. He comes and goes to all the continents and islands all over the Digital World. I even heard he can't be killed by anything."

"That sounds fake," Hiroto argued. 

"It's a really prevalent rumor, though," Gazimon said, waving a claw. "Pretty much every Digimon accepts it as fact. The Legendary Tamer can't die, and he's always somewhere in the Digital World. Watching over everyone." 

"So why wasn't he asked to do this quest?" Hiroto asked, looking unimpressed. "There's just two of us, and we don't know the first thing about Digimon. Why not send this immortal legendary guy to the front lines?" 

"Clearly, me and Missimon are integral, and you two were brought here as perfect partner matches for us. So stop whining," Gazimon answered, waving his paw through the air like he would smack Hiroto if he was closer.

Makis blinked, thinking about that, and then felt butterflies in his chest. "When you think about it... we must be something spectacular." He looked up at Hiroto. "We have something this legendary immortal human doesn't have. Something about us makes us better than him for this mission. We might not know what makes us special yet, but we're bound to find out." 

Missimon boosted his rockets showing his excitement. "That's the spirit!"

"Is there some sort of significance to it being two of us?" Hiroto wondered aloud. 

"Well, the biggest group of heroes ever brought to the Digital World was seven, I think. Or was it eight?" Gazimon said, scratching his chin. "Whatever. There's been bigger groups, is my point. But sometimes there's just one hero in some of these stories you hear. Two is sometimes a thing, but not often." 

"So your answer is another vague maybe," Hiroto sighed, as they crossed from the dreary-feeling graveyard area into what was clearly the canyon. Arid, dry air whistled over the rocks, carved deeply into a steep drop as far as the eye could see. Hiroto approached the edge of the cliff and then took a cursory sweep of the landscape, looking from side to side, and then across at the huge rock formation on the other side where they were presumably going. "I don't see a way across."

Makis didn't get nearly as close to the edge as Hiroto. He kept his distance and kept his hold on Gazimon. "O-Oh, well, if there's no way across," he hummed with a nervous smile. 

"Wait! Wait!" Missimon flew back and forth, his eyes glowing red and making a beeping sound. Finally, he stopped where there appeared to be nothing, but his eyes flashed red indicating detection. "There's a path here we can use!" 

Makis gawked. "You need to get your scanners checked because there's nothing there." 

"Of course there is!" Missimon picked up a small stone, hovered over the air of the intimidating gap, and dropped it. The stone clunked against an invisible surface that led straight out from the ledge. 

"No way!" Makis cried and shook his head. "I'm not crossing an invisible path over that insane drop!"

Hiroto stared at the rock for a moment and then noticed a place in the stone ledge where there seemed to be a perfectly rectangular cutout. He hesitantly reached his foot out and placed his heel on the edge of the cliff, but then rocked his toe forward to see if he could touch the invisible platform. And sure enough, it suspended his foot at a flat angle over the steep drop. He stared for another silent moment, before stepping his other foot completely out onto the invisible path, until he ended up standing on what appeared to be nothing with both feet.

"Missimon, can you lead the way and ensure we don't misstep?" he requested.

"Sure can!" Missimon replied and even saluted. 

Makis stood there staring at Hiroto floating in the air. His heart pounded against Gazimon's back, he took frantic deep breaths, and he had a cold sweat on the back of his neck. "No way. There's no way. He's crazy. No way. No way." 

"It's pretty much a straight shot all the way across," the little rocket said and pointed. "The path is about two feet wide so there's some wiggle room, but I'll fly low so you can follow directly behind me down the middle."

Hiroto looked down at his floating feet and then turned around looking at Makis, still standing on solid ground. "Are you coming?" he asked, voice level and unaffected. "Or do you need me to carry you again?" 

Gazimon looked up at Makis from his arms. "You don't have to, Makis. We can go around."

"I didn't need you to carry me the first time!" Makis snapped. "Would you just give me a fucking minute? I mean, god... Aren't you scared? Look at you! Look at how far you'll fall if you take one wrong step! You'll die!" He could feel the beginnings of tears in his eyes. "Aren't you one bit scared?"

"If I die, it's my own fault," Hiroto answered, looking around at the landscape right below his feet and shrugging his shoulders slightly. "I'd be scared if I wasn't in control of my own two feet."

"Y-Yeah, well... nobody ever said phobias could be cured with rational thought." Makis just kept picturing himself slipping and falling into the chasm below, his body breaking apart on the rocks. He'd die without ever seeing his parents again. They'd come home from their trips and find him gone, only for him never to come back. The tears broke over his cheeks. " _My warning meant nothing. You’re dancing in quicksand. Why don’t you watch where you’re wandering? Why don’t you watch there you’re stumbling?_ ” One foot followed the other in terrified, shuffling steps. Makis held onto Gazimon as tightly as he could, walking until he was standing behind Hiroto in mid-air.

"Here," Gazimon said, reaching a hand forward and grabbing onto the back of Hiroto's shirt. "He can't walk too far ahead of us, so just follow his steps and you'll be okay." Hiroto waited just a moment and then started to walk, the pace dictated by how fast Makis was willing to shuffle along thanks to Gazimon's claws in his muscle shirt.

" _You’re wading knee deep and going in. You’re wading knee deep and going in. And you may never come back again._ " And a slow pace it was. Makis' tearful singing was the only thing giving him courage. That and Gazimon. Obviously, Hiroto had no empathy when it came to fear, but it seemed he wasn't willing to spare any sympathy either. " _This bog is thick and easy to get lost in ‘cause you’re a stupid, belligerent fucker. I hope it suck you down, down, down, down…_ " 

It took a long time getting across, especially since Makis froze up every time the wind blew a little too hard, but then Missimon pointed excitedly. "We're almost there, guys!"

"Alright," Hiroto said, looking behind him at the Digimon holding onto his shirt. "So are you gonna—" 

"Not until we're on solid ground," Gazimon said, with a big smile. "Now keep walking." They finally made it over to the other side of the canyon and stepped off the invisible path. They were now on a large plateau with others towering above them. On one side, they could see the edge of the island and the ocean beyond. On the other were a series of tiny plateaus connected by thankfully visible bridges, and their destination, Freezeland, lay beyond, situated under a thick batch of clouds from which snow fell. Hiroto felt the stiff, cold breeze coming from the distant snowy landscape and shivered slightly, but began to trudge onwards anyway. But then he noticed Makis, who'd crumpled to the ground as soon as he was finally on the plateau and backed himself up against one of the tall pillars. "Let's take a break," Gazimon suggested from his boy's arms, frowning at Hiroto.

Makis felt like he was going to throw up as he curled into a ball right there among the rocks. Hiroto wasn't even going to praise him for facing his fears?! One arm finally unlatched itself from around Gazimon so he could wipe his face with his sleeve, still crying simply from the anxiety of the experience. "Wasn't Makis brave, Hiroto?" piped up Missimon. The little rocket knew he and Gazimon had to start getting these kids working more as a team if this journey would be a success, and a good place to start was getting the humans to compliment and support each other.

Hiroto looked down at Makis, crying on the ground. Brave? "Sure," Hiroto answered, before slate grey eyes glanced away, distracted by the high peaks of the canyon. Gazimon slapped a furry paw to his face. Thick as a brick, this kid. He opened his mouth to start chewing Hiroto out, but then, big ears twitched. Hiroto looked towards the sound that Gazimon heard and spied, at the very top of one of the peaks, a pair of huge wings stretching out of a nest perched on the highest plateau. "We have to go," he said, urgency only now coloring his voice.

"Oh my god, can you n-not even give me five minu—" Makis glared at Hiroto with puffy eyes, but then he noticed how Hiroto, Missimon, and even Gazimon all stared upward at something. He turned his sights skyward as well and saw those flaming orange wings. "I... I don't suppose you're strong enough to fight whatever that is?" the boy asked his Digimon.

"Maybe with Commadramon, but," Gazimon said, glancing at Missimon worriedly. That's when the head attached to those wings became visible, and a beak filled with jagged fangs peeked over the edge of the nest, attached to a bird that was entirely on fire. 

"What is that," Hiroto said, standing stock still and keeping his voice very quiet. 

"That's Birdramon. I guess he lives up there," Gazimon answered, just as quietly. 

Despite their efforts, Birdramon noticed them, and the huge bird began flapping its wings, rising up from its nest. "We have to go!" Hiroto repeated, louder now, as the huge phoenix swooped down towards them.

Missimon met Gazimon's gaze, but he knew unless Hiroto embraced the notion of having a partner that could protect him, Digivolving would be next to impossible. Ever since last night, Hiroto went on about protecting everyone on his own, carrying the burden of safety on his own shoulders. Unless the boy relinquished some of the responsibility to his Digimon, then Missimon was stuck as Missimon. 

"Oh my god! Oh my god, I hate this!" Makis cried as he scrambled to his feet, still not bothering to let go of Gazimon in the heat of his panic. They ran across the wide plateau that offered nearly zero cover of any kind. Makis gasped as they came upon the next gap and rickety bridge connecting the two sides. Hiroto ran across it no problem, but Makis stumbled and hesitated.

Hiroto noticed when he didn't hear feet behind him. He looked back across the bridge and saw Makis hesitating on the other side. And then he saw that huge fire bird giving chase in the sky behind him and realized that without a lifeline, any one of these bridges was a deathtrap waiting to happen. "Missimon, I know it's dangerous, but... Distract it!" he commanded, before rushing back across the bridge. He grabbed Makis' hand and then ran back, shouting, "If he blasts the bridge, I'll pull you up onto the plateau! I promise! So just run as fast as you can!"

"You got it, Hiroto!" Missimon launched himself higher into the air with a fiery boost of his engines. "Hey, you big overgrown turkey! I got somethin' for ya! Missile Crash!" With another boost of his engines, Missimon collided straight into Birdramon.

Makis only had a split second to look at the hand grasping his before his body jerked forward. Was Hiroto being... gallant? Sort of. At the very least, he was doing something to help Makis rather than huff and grunt impatiently at him. The next plateau wasn't nearly as wide with a higher cliff jutting up on one side, but there was still plenty of room for them to run. The ground gradually sloped upward and Makis could see another bridge in the distance. _Just keep running_ , he told himself. _Run as fast as you can!_

Birdramon roared behind them, and Hiroto had nothing else on his mind except crossing the bridges as fast as possible. "Meteor Wing!" he heard, as the giant bird Digimon loosed fire from its wings and burned up the bridge they just crossed in an instant. _Please be okay, Mission,_ echoed through his head as they ran across the second bridge, making it sway and crackle worryingly as their feet trampled across it as fast as they could manage. Missimon distracted Birdramon for a moment, but the larger Digimon quickly noticed the rest of the group getting away and flew after them, cracking his beak against Missimon and sending the much tinier Digimon spinning away through the air. "Fire Flapping!" it cawed, flapping its wings and releasing a stream of flames that hit the ground just behind Makis and followed them onto the final bridge. 

Hiroto picked up the pace, but the fire quickly began burning through the ropes suspending the bridge from the plateau they just crossed, and the snapping sounds and the crackling of fire made it clear that the bridge wouldn't hold out for long. "Hold on!" Hiroto shouted just as the bridge went down, loosing from its supports on one side and swinging towards the cliff face on the other side. Hiroto grabbed one beam of the bridge and held tight onto Makis' hand with the other, taking the full brunt of the crash into the cliff side. That was when he looked over his shoulder and saw Missimon approaching them as fast as he could, with Birdramon in hot pursuit behind him. "Missimon!" Hiroto shouted, as loud as he could—and then his Digivice began screeching.

Makis yelped when he felt the heat of the flames on his heels. Now more than ever, he wished they'd gone through the swamp. He couldn't help a scream as the bridge dropped from beneath their feet and they went swinging with it. He was terrified the impact of hitting the cliff side would make their hands come apart, but Hiroto kept a strong grip. "Gazimon, hold onto me!" Makis said, and once his Digimon wrapped securely around his neck, he used his free hand to hold one of the beams for himself. 

Missimon felt power surge through him when his boy called out for him. "Missimon Digivolve to..." A white light engulfed the little rocket, his form growing bigger until he appeared as the blue uniformed dinosaur again. "Commandramon!" He landed on Birdramon's back and aimed his gun between the beast's shoulders. "M16 Assassin!" A barrage of bullets made Birdramon screech in pain, wings flapping haphazardly until it crashed into the smaller plateau just above the boys' heads. 

"Gazimon, climb up there and help him!"

Gazimon climbed up Hiroto and jumped from his shoulders up onto the plateau, rushing off to help in the fight. "Electric Stun Blast!" he shouted, shooting a sparking ball of black gas from his mouth in an attempt to paralyze the giant bird before it could lift up off the ground. 

Meanwhile, Hiroto hung onto Makis and the beam of the bridge, gritting his teeth against the pain that now wracked his body from their crash into the cliff. He felt his arms shaking and looked down at Makis, noticing that the other boy grabbed a lower beam for himself. "Okay," he breathed, hissing between his teeth. "I'm going to lift you up and you grab higher beams as I do it until you can reach the top. Ready?" he asked, tightening his grip on Makis' hand.

"DCD Bomb!" Commandramon pulled one of the grenades off his vest and dropped it on Birdramon before jumping off the beast's back. The bomb exploded, effectively mangling one of Birdramon's wings. "Are the guys okay down there?" 

Makis tucked the toes of his shoes between the beams, treating the bridge much like a ladder. He looked up when Hiroto gave instructions. Fear stood out on his face, but the boy nodded anyway. He couldn't afford to freeze up at a time like this. As the much stronger boy pulled him upward, Makis climbed the beams of the bridge until he hoisted himself up over the ledge onto solid ground. Even though he was scared, he turned around, leaned over the side, and offered his hand to Hiroto as well.

Frozen in place, Birdramon snapped its toothed beak at Commadramon and Gazimon, as the two smaller Digimon darted around it and back towards their partners. Hiroto's arm dropped when Makis let go of his hand and climbed up onto the ground above, letting it dangle as a stiff pain shot through it from his fingers to his shoulder. He looked up when Makis offered his hand, and groaned as he lifted his arm back up and grabbed hold. He felt sweat collecting on his palms, however, loosening his grip on both Makis' hand and the beam. "I'm going to slip," he breathed, voice rising in pitch, urgent. "Let go, I'm going to pull you over. I'll grab the bridge, let go."

Makis shook his head. "H-Hiroto..."


	4. Freezeland

"I guess I am. They taught me about what could happen if I got caught in a bad situation and wasn't prepared, so... I always consider what could go wrong. Which is why I want to save the lighter for if we get lost in a dark cave or something. It only has so much fuel," Hiroto responded, his breath thick and visible. "This won't take too long," he assured Makis, as he dropped the now whittled piece of wood and started to sift through the sticks, before picking a long, thin stick and snapping it in half. He frowned, picked another, similar stick, and tried snapping that one too. He continued until he found one that didn't break, and then put it down on his whittled piece of wood, before starting to spin the long stick hard and fast between his palms. The rough exterior of the branch tore at the skin on his palms, and his teeth chattered hard with the effort, but finally, a tiny spark jumped from the friction between the two pieces. Hiroto kept at the grueling work until there was a small, smoldering ember, and he used the whittled piece of wood as a platform, transferring the spark over to the small nest of bark he created at the base of the pile of sticks. He deposited the ember and blew onto it until the bark caught fire, and then used the whittled wood again to usher the flame underneath the other sticks, allowing them to slowly catch fire as well.

Makis watched, fully intrigued by the process of lighting a fire from scratch. Truthfully, he wasn't sure he'd be willing to put his hands through that much abuse. He needed his hands for making puppets. "Not that I'm not impressed, because I'm very impressed, but is this really the kind of stuff you enjoy doing? I mean, I can totally see the benefit of survival skills, but they aren't a hobby. I never... see you reading books or playing games or doodling or... anything that makes me believe you have interests and activities that are unique to you."

"I don't really enjoy it," Hiroto said, shrugging his shoulders and scooting back from the fire a little as it sprung to life. His hands were stiff from the cold and bleeding from little scrapes all along his palms, so he put their backs up to the fire as to not irritate the raw skin. "I just see knowing this stuff as a necessity. I guess the closest thing to a hobby I have is football and judo. They're alright."

"Well, obviously you know it, so necessity achieved." Makis scooted his way around the fire, sitting himself closer to Hiroto. "Describing your current hobbies as 'alright' isn't entirely convincing. Is there something else you want to do? Maybe... you'd enjoy cooking? Acting? Swimming? Magic tricks?" He meant the last one as a joke, but also hoped to push Hiroto into really thinking about activities that interested him. "Like how I have puppetry."

Hiroto shrugged his shoulders again. "Never really thought about it. Don't have time for another hobby on top of sports, with cram school and training and..." He trailed off, looking at Makis curiously. "Puppetry?" he asked.

Makis suddenly blushed. He wasn't in the habit of sharing his hobby with other people; mostly because they jumped to conclusions and assumed he spent his time making childish toys. Trapped in an igloo, however, meant he couldn't avoid the topic now. "Yeah, I um... I make puppets. When I was little, I used to watch imports of the Muppet movies and I really liked the characters. Once I got older, my parents let me watch _Labyrinth_ and _The Dark Crystal._ I was so blown away." Makis felt an excited chill run over his skin and he smiled a tiny bit. "My first puppets were just the rod type, with your hand in the mouth and a rod attached to the arm, you know? I put on shows for my parents. Over the years, I worked really hard improving the quality and then I started making more complex live-hand puppets, which require two people to operate. Black light puppets are really cool, too. My next big goal is to make body puppets."

"Huh," Hiroto said, taking his now warmed hands and putting them behind him into the snow that he'd packed down to make their floor, letting the cold soothe the scrapes on his palms. "I never would have guessed. Though, who would? It's not a hobby you hear about a lot. Sounds time consuming. Lot of skill involved..." He seemed to think about it silently for a moment, face not changing despite the gears clearly working in his head. "So... you want to work on movies? Plays?"

"Movies," Makis replied with a nod. "I applied to a two-week summer camp at the Jim Henson studio in America, and they accepted me. I had to submit an essay, a portfolio of my work, and a video of one of my puppets in action. They only accepted 20 applicants. I think hundreds of students apply every year from all over the world, and only a small handful get accepted from out of the country. I want to take all I learn and bring it back here." The boy shivered from another excited chill down his spine. "I have my sights set on Tokyo University of the Arts. I'm hoping the camp will look good on my application. I mean, it's the Jim Henson studio, you know? He pioneered puppetry as we know it today. There's no heart or soul in CGI animation. Puppetry..." Makis glanced over and saw Hiroto simply staring at him. He floundered for a moment before fixing his gaze on the snowy ground. "Sorry, I'm rambling."

"No, that's okay," Hiroto said, shaking his head and breaking the stare—which he only now realized he'd been doing, letting gray eyes fixate on the fire instead. "You can ramble. I don't..." He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know what I'm going to do after high school. It's cool that you have a plan. That's admirable."

"Thanks." Makis again looked over at Hiroto. "Why are you going through the hassle of cram school if you don't even know which universities you want to attend? Are your parents pressuring you?"

"They want me to go to the National Defense Academy. That's where they went," Hiroto said, picking up a stick and using it to stoke the fire, moving some of the branches so that the embers spread.

Makis hummed, watching the embers flare for a minute. "But... That isn't what you want." He took a chance and scooted closer to Hiroto. "I don't think a career in the Self-Defense Forces suits you."

"No?" Hiroto asked, looking just slightly distraught by that answer, eyebrows furrowing and a tiny frown flickering onto his lips. "When I was growing up, it was all I wanted to do when I got older. But now... it's not that I don't want to. It's just that I don't know if I can."

"When you do all this survival stuff and talk about training practice with your parents as a kid, you don't get very excited. I don't get the impression you enjoyed learning about all this stuff. Just now, you even said 'They want me to go' not 'I want to go.'" Makis leaned forward, resting his head on his knees, and watched Hiroto. "Why can't you? Are you sick?"

"Um," Hiroto said, bringing his hands into his lap and wringing them together. "I guess. In my current physical state, I wouldn't be able to join the military as a solider. Or a pilot. Or on any of the naval units. Basically, if I did go to the National Defense Academy, it would to be to become a medic or a mechanic." He paused, and then suddenly flushed, looking upset with himself for having said anything. "Sorry."

Makis shook his head. "Why're you sorry? I don't think there's anything wrong with being a medic or a mechanic, but that would have to be a position you have your heart set on. Both your parents are part of the Ground Force, right?" he asked, recalling the insignia on their uniforms from the times they visited Hiroto at school. "I guess they had ambitions for you to be an active officer… But do they know you're sick? If they know you can't become a soldier like them, seems kinda odd they would keep pushing you anyway."

"It's complicated," Hiroto said, shaking his head. "Sorry, I... I don't really want to talk about it," he murmured, gray eyes glancing away again. In school, Hiroto had a habit of standing a little too straight and talking a little too loud, but now his voice was softer, and he let his shoulders hunch a little bit. It was subtle, but noticeable in a kid who usually leaned so hard on what was clearly a drilled-in style of mannerisms.

Makis looked surprised. This was a lot of emotion coming from Hiroto, as subtle as it was. "I didn't mean to upset you," he said as a means of an apology. "We don't have to talk about it anymore. Um, we can talk about... Oh, uh, what's your favorite food? I like yakisoba with shrimp and sriracha sauce."

Hiroto seemed to ease up when Makis so easily changed the subject. He assumed that Makis would pressure him for details. "I like umeboshi," he answered quietly, allowing his hands to disentangle from their nervous wringing and go back to their spot in the snow.

Makis wrinkled his nose, but he smiled a little. "Ew, really? I hate super sour stuff like that. My sense of smell isn't very good, so my sense of taste is kinda weak, which is why I love spicy foods so much. I like sweet stuff too. I like dango with chocolate drizzled on it. Mochi ice cream is really good in the summer. I'm also kind of addicted to coffee jellies."

"I never really liked sweet stuff," Hiroto admitted. Makis' smile was infectious, and even though Hiroto didn't smile back, his frown went away and his shoulders unhunched, making him look less like he was about to implode in on himself with surliness. "But I didn't have anything really sweet until I was well into grade school, so I guess I just didn't get hooked on it early enough."

"It is never too late to get hooked on sweets," Makis insisted with a wagging of his finger. "But if you like salty and sour, there might not be any hope for you. I'll get you hooked on coffee jellies at the very least."

"When?" Hiroto asked, letting out a puff of what might've been the beginnings of laughter before gesturing at the igloo above their heads. "You mean before or after we get out of the tundra?"

"Point taken," Makis hummed. "Unless the Digital World has coffee jellies, I guess it will have to wait until we get back home to the real world. You can come over to my house and I'll let you partake of my stash."

"Come over to your house?" Hiroto echoed, eyebrows rising. "For real?"

Green eyes blinked. "Well, sure, why not? We're either gonna come out of this hating each other or as best friends. Since you've saved my life a few times, I'm leaning towards friends. It makes sense we'd hang out with each other. I mean... You've been over to other people's houses before, right?"

'Friends,' Hiroto mouthed, like he was tasting the word on his lips. Then he seemed to become aware of himself and shook his head. "No, I mean—Well, yes, of course I have. Not since... Elementary school, though..."

Makis smiled sympathetically. "Can't say I'm in a different boat. I don't think I can remember the last time I went to a friend's house, either. With my parents out of town so often, I never felt like I should have friends over, y'know? I got so used to being alone that I stopped trying to make friends all together."

"I try, but," Hiroto started, scratching at the back of his head. "I don't know. Never seems to work out." He pulled his knees up to his chest, resting his arms across his knees and his chin on his arms. "I miss my best friend from elementary. But he moved away a long time ago, so..." He trailed off, and then shrugged a little bit. The conversation seemed to be edging close to another topic Hiroto didn't want to talk about, because he suddenly looked around the igloo and then said, "I just realized that I didn't try and find us any dinner. Are you hungry? We didn't have lunch, so... I mean, I can go look."

"Oh, guess you lost the satchels running from Birdramon, huh?" Makis didn't notice until now that the leaf-woven bags of food were missing. "Are you crazy, though? Don't go back out there. It's pitch black and freezing. You won't be able to find anything. Going a day without food isn't going to kill us." Makis also finally noticed the Digimon hadn't said one thing since coming inside the igloo. He looked around only to see Gazimon curled atop Commandramon, both of them fast asleep. He guessed fighting Birdramon wore them out. "So, not to make it weird or whatever, but should we sleep huddled together?"

Hiroto seemed uneasy about the idea of not providing dinner for them for the night, but then he noticed the Digimon already asleep. Maybe just sleeping and getting food after they were out of the frozen wasteland would be best. "Yes, that would be wise," he said, glancing at the walls. "The fire's warmed the inside of the igloo, but we have to put it out before we go to sleep, so the temperature will drop during the night. We should sleep close together—not just the two of us, but we should sleep next to the Digimon, too. Body warmth on all sides is optimal," he said, voice rapid-fire and explanatory.

Makis cracked a smile and chuckled a little. "Optimal, huh? Well, since you put it that way." He used his foot to shove snow up around the fire so it would burn out. "You're still the one without sleeves or long hair, so come over here and lie beside the Digimon. I'll spoon up behind you. Between Gazimon and me, you should stay warm."

"Are you sure?" Hiroto asked, looking unsure. "You're right that I don't have long sleeves or long hair, but your body mass is overall smaller than mine, so I really should be the one taking the end, practically speaking..."

"Consider it me paying you back for staying up all night last night keeping guard. You need a good night's sleep, and if staying as warm as possible helps make that happen, then we're doing it. Now c'mere, you meathead." Makis grabbed Hiroto's forearm and dragged him along the ground until the bulky military grunt took his place beside the sleeping pair of Digimon. Makis then curled up behind Hiroto, getting as close as humanly possible and fixing his hair over the both of them like a blanket for their arms and shoulders. "I also meant to congratulate you," the boy whispered, "on getting Missimon to Digivolve again and maintain his form."

Hiroto looked uncomfortable with being spooned, and made a motion at Makis to back off for a moment before flipping over onto his back and allowing the other boy close again. He appreciated the blanket of hair covering one exposed arm, and being able to gently wedge the other between Commandramon and Gazimon's warm bodies. If either arm had to touch the icy ground, he would have probably been unable to sleep. Makis was able to lie on his side thanks to his long sleeves, so this formation made sense. That line of logic allowed the boy to calm down a little, relaxing and laying his head on Gazimon's side so his skin wasn't touching the wall of snow behind him. "Oh," Hiroto whispered back, looking down at the dinosaur-like Digimon on the bottom of the pile. "Thanks. Commandramon is... really something, huh."

Makis nodded. "He's very curious, but also really brave. He has a lot of faith in you. Obviously, he wants to protect you as much as Gazimon wants to protect me. It's nice, don't you think? Them caring about us so much. Unconditionally."

"It's weird. I don't understand it," Hiroto said, frowning gently. "But... It's nice, too," he admitted, glancing at the boy snuggled up to his shoulder.

The half-Greek boy hummed tiredly. All at once, exhaustion from his fear, adrenaline, and anxiety finally hit him. His eyes closed as he yawned. "Hey, you know, I bet... you'd make a good... good cop or a... cool... park ranger..." Makis mumbled as he started falling asleep.

"Thank you?" Hiroto answered, seemingly unsure of how to take those alternative career options. He opened his mouth to say something else, but quickly noticed that Makis was asleep—or at least, almost there. So he kept quiet, letting his own tired eyes slide shut.


	5. Misty Trees

Makis awoke the next morning feeling groggy and sore from the run-in with Birdramon. He vaguely registered something firm and warm under his head, along with a deep thumping noise. Apparently, during the night, he shifted further and further atop Hiroto until they were lying chest-to-chest. He also felt Hiroto's arms crossed over his back and underneath his hair. This was... something. Makis licked his lips and turned his head up trying to see the other boy's face. "Hiroto," he whispered loudly. "Hiroto."

Hiroto, exhausted not only from their fleeing, the hike, and the building of the igloo, but also from his choice to stay up the night before, didn't stir. The loud whispering wasn't enough to rouse him. He was still leaning against Gazimon, breathing evenly. Sleep softened the way he held his face—the way he held his lips in a hard line or a scowl, the way he almost always had his brows furrowed, the way his nose creased when he talked at length—it all dropped while he slept. He looked far more peaceful than even seemed possible with how high-strung he was while awake.

Makis pouted when he couldn't get Hiroto to wake up, but the longer he watched the other boy sleep, the more he figured it was better this way. Poor Hiroto worked much harder than Makis the past couple days since coming here. He deserved a good sleep. Not to mention... with the scowl gone from his face, he looked kind of cute? Makis felt his face heat up a little at the thought and looked away, only to lock gazes with big orange eyes. "Commandramon!" the boy gasped. "H-How long have you been awake?" 

"Not long," replied the dinosaur. Commandramon almost seemed amused as he watched the humans sleeping on top of each other. "You all don't normally sleep in protective packs, do you?" 

Makis blushed. "Well... Well, no." He shook his head before the Digimon could tease him any further. "Why don't you go find us some breakfast, hm? Take some of the responsibility off Hiroto." 

Commandramon was all too eager to do tasks that made his partner's life easier, so he gave Makis a salute before crawling out of the igloo in search of food. Commandramon leaving caused Gazimon to wake up, blinking his eyes awake when he was suddenly colder than before. The Digimon looked around sleepily and then realized that someone was leaning on his back. Noticing Hiroto there, still sleeping, he smirked and decided not to move. Then he looked at his partner and saw that Makis was already awake. "Morning," the Digimon whispered, his characteristically scratchy voice even more so when he spoke so softly, "sleep okay?"

"Yeah, I must have gotten cold in the middle of the night, though, because I didn't fall asleep like this." Makis carefully reached his arm out and pet along Gazimon's head. "Thanks for keeping him warm. Hiroto puts on a strong front for all of us, but he's not impervious to the elements."

"No fur and no appropriate attire," Gazimon agreed, closing his eyes and tilting his head into the petting. "I feel bad for the guy. If that regulates me to pillow, so be it. As long as he doesn't make a habit out of it," the Digimon joked.

Makis smiled. "I'll make sure he doesn't." The boy continued petting his Digimon, smiling even more when he heard something akin to a purr rumble up out of Gazimon. "You've said before that as my Digimon, it's your job to look out for me and protect me, but I still want to thank you for making sure I felt safe crossing the canyon. It feels really nice having someone on my side when I'm scared."

"I'll say you're welcome, but I want to say of course I would," Gazimon responded. "As long as I'm here, Makis, you never have to face any fear alone. Don't forget that, okay?"

The boy blushed and nodded. "Okay, Gazimon." 

"I found food!" Commandramon declared when he came back into the igloo. 

Makis spent the last twenty minutes in comfortable silence petting his Digimon, so he jolted when the dinosaur came barging in like that. "Commandramon!" he hissed under his breath. 

"I found some mail boxes down near Iceblock Road. They were full’a beef jerky and apples. Super lucky, huh?"

Commandramon's loud voice was finally enough to wake Hiroto. The boy's brows immediately came together when his eyes blinked open, and his relaxed, sleeping face was instantly gone. He then seemed to become aware of the fact that it was morning and tried to jerk up into a sitting position-- only for Makis to effectively weigh him down. He blinked, confused and perched on his elbows, and then looked down at the boy wrapped around his torso. "Oh. Uh, g'morning."

"Yeah, hey." Without Hiroto's arms wrapped around him anymore, Makis was able to push himself up and off the other boy. "Guess we both got kinda cold last night." 

"That's why you learn to sleep in protective packs!" Commandramon said as he dumped all the food onto the snowy ground. "When I was a little Bommon back in Factorial Town, I slept in a big pile with other Bommon. If anyone tried bothering us, we all used our Bachibachibacchin on them to scare them away. Pagumon are really good at it because they all end up looking like one big furry Digimon all piled together."

"Uh-huh," Hiroto answered, not sounding like he was paying attention to the Digimon at all. Still half asleep and with his eyes trained on Makis as the boy shifted away from him; he didn't even see his breakfast until Gazimon picked it up and waved it in his face. 

"Digital World to Hiroto, your beef jerky isn't going to eat itself," Gazimon said teasingly, which finally got a reaction out of Hiroto. 

He coughed awkwardly and snatched the food from Gazimon's claws. "Thanks."

Makis huffed and ran his hands through his messy hair in an effort to comb it back into something presentable. He hated having tangled or frazzled hair. He didn't notice Hiroto staring at him, either. "I'm going to end up with a rat's nest for hair by the time we ever get back home," the boy mumbled. If Toy Town was anything like he expected, maybe there would be actual toys there. Where there were toys, there were dolls, and where there were dolls, there were doll brushes. If he was lucky, he'd be able to use one on his hair. "Save me an apple," said Makis as he fingers caught in a few tangles.

"Do you want to tie it back?" Hiroto asked, making a motion at the bandanna around his neck, while simultaneously trying not to direct too many glances at Makis grooming through that long hair—and failing, mostly. "It's yours if you want it." 

"They're sharing," Gazimon whispered to Commandramon, before snickering and biting into his apple.

"It's a big jump in just a few days," Commandramon replied. "They grow up so fast." 

Makis was about to insist he had a collection of elastics in his pocket, but he didn't want to be rude. His hair helped keep him warm too, but the wind blew so hard outside that it would just whip into another tangled mess. "Sure, thanks." Makis took the bandanna from Hiroto, smoothed all his hair back, and then tied it together in a ponytail with the rising sun fabric. "How's it look?"

"Good," Hiroto responded, a little too quickly, before letting out a strangled breath like he was contemplating shoving his head in the snow. So much for being conspicuous. "Well, once we're done eating, we should start moving again. It might take us another full day to get out of Freezeland and we want to camp as far away from the snowstorm as possible," he suddenly said, the words pouring from his mouth quickly as he scooted himself towards the exit of the igloo. "I’m going to go and... Look at... Our hike options for today," he murmured, as he gathered up more jerky in his hands. "Excuse me," he then said as he slipped out the front. Gazimon continued laughing to himself. Swing and a miss, Hiroto.

Makis blinked, looking utterly confused. "Okay? Come back in if you get too cold!" he called after the guy. 

"Hiroto, wait for me!" Commandramon chomped down on the rest of his apple, core and all, before grabbing some jerky for himself and rushing after his boy. "You've been acting funny all morning. Did something happen? Did all the cold go to your brain?"

"All morning? I just woke up," Hiroto pointed out lamely. He walked away from their shelter under the overhang of the cliff to observe their options. They could go up into the mountain pass, try their luck trekking across the open, snowy tundra and hope they run into more cover tomorrow night, or head down to the ice bridge and hope it leads somewhere other than into the middle of a freezing body of water. None of them seemed like great options, really, but the mountain at least had a chance of leading to another good campsite. "Nothing happened, don't worry about it. Just..." He glanced down at the dinosaur at his side, unsure of how much he was willing to reveal, even to his completely earnest new partner. "It's been a while since I've talked so much to people," he decided to say.

"Not used to being an open book, huh?" Commandramon crossed his arms and nodded. "Both you and Makis seem like the reserved types, but a strong team needs open communication. Gotta keep all those channels open if we're gonna maintain trust, which is crucial to the success of teamwork. But I bet you already know that." He shoved the remaining jerky into his maw. "Unless, of course, you've only ever trained to survive solo, but that won't fly here."

"I guess you could say that," Hiroto said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. His palms were still a mess and the cold wind stung at them. And now that he was standing up, he could feel a dull throb coming from the shoulder that took the brunt of the impact during yesterday's attack. Today wasn't going to be easy. He was quiet for a minute, and then looked down at Commandramon again. "Hey, mind if I ask you something? Did you have a lot of friends? I mean, back in the town where you came from?"

“Sure I did,” Commandramon answered without even having to think first. “When I was a baby, I mostly played with the other Bommon, but when I made it to Missimon, I started playing with all the Kapurimon that live there. My best friend was a Kapurimon, actually. I had some Hagurumon friends, too. There are a few Gaurdomon that were nice and played with us sometimes. Most of the other Champion and Ultimate Digimon there turn kinda serious and don’t like playing as much, though. They guard Factorial Town for the most part.”

"Do you have any secrets you'd never tell your friends?" Hiroto asked next. Commandramon seemed so open and honest that he really doubted it, but... "Or like, maybe something you think would make them think less of you, so you keep it to yourself?"

"Hmmm..." Commandramon scratched the end of his snout. "If something about me makes my friend think less of me, then they aren't a friend worth having," he mused first. "I wouldn't think they were a friend to begin with, either. A real friend accepts you for all your flaws. I also wouldn't be a very good friend if I was going around keeping secrets, because that would mean I didn't trust my friends, and friends have to trust each other more than anything."

Hiroto frowned a little, processing what Commandramon said. It was very idealistic. But maybe for Digimon, it was as simple as that. "Hm," he answered, seemingly not content with it, but still lightening his expression before he looked back down at Commandramon. "I know that was sort of out of the blue, so thanks for answering honestly."

"I'll always be honest with you, Hiroto. Even though I'm a cyborg soldier, I believe a lot in Bushido, y'know. The way of the warrior is applicable whether you're a samurai or a soldier. Sincerity is one of the eight virtues. If I wasn't honest, I would be a bad friend and a bad warrior." Commandramon tilted his head. "Are you keeping a secret from me? You know you can tell me anything. I'll stick by you no matter what. Loyalty is another virtue!"

Hiroto knew Commandramon was right. Keeping secrets was a terribly dishonorable thing to do. "It's just that... I have something I keep to myself because it's very personal. And a little shameful, at least back home," he admitted, as he came to sit in the snow next to Commandramon. "I let my best friend in on this secret way back when, and... Well, since then, I haven't had any friends."

Commandramon scratched at his snout again. "I see. This thing about you makes you fall outside the social norm, huh? I guess that does make it harder to tell people. Still, it's impossible for you to be the only one like you. You just have to find other people who have the same secret as you and confide in them instead. I'm sorry your best friend stopped being your friend, though. Something like that really hurts." The Digimon reached over and placed his clawed hand on Hiroto's knee. "I won't stop being your friend, though. Not ever."

"That's amazing to me," Hiroto sighed, putting his hand on top of the scaly one. "That you can say that so confidently to someone you just met. You're really amazing, Commandramon." He looked over his shoulder at the igloo then. They were alone right now, but Gazimon and Makis would be joining them any minute to start the day's hike. "I don't want to keep secrets from someone who holds loyalty in such high regard, but... Let me tell you about it later, okay?"

Commandramon smiled. "I'll be ready to listen whenever you're ready to share." 

Makis and Gazimon came crawling out of the igloo just a short time later. The boy immediately wrapped his arms around himself and shivered. "I never thought a hut made out of ice and snow would actually be warmer than the outside," he said, jogging up towards Hiroto. "No use standing around and freezing our butts off, right? If we keep moving, we keep warm."

"Right," Hiroto agreed, getting up out of the snow. "But first, we need to destroy the igloo," he said, looking over at the structure. "We won't be back here, and if we leave it up, some wild Digimon might spot it and try following our footprints or our scent. So let's smash it with our feet, and then start moving. I propose we climb the cliff ridge, since it's way more likely we'll find another covered place to shelter for the night if we don't manage to make it out of Freezeland by nightfall."

The dinosaur soldier lifted his paw and grinned. "Fellas, I got this." Commandramon pulled one of the grenades off his vest and tossed it at the igloo, which exploded on impact. 

Makis stood there gawking at the now smoking pile of snow. "Was that really necessary?" 

Commandramon shrugged. "It got the job done, didn't it? And in no time at all!"

"Do you have an infinite number of those?" Hiroto asked, looking equal parts concerned and impressed. 

Gazimon grinned, nodding his head. "Of course he does! It's one of a Commandramon's essential attacks, after all. If he could run out, he'd be in serious trouble."

"Yup! My grenades regenerate at a rate of necessity. Basically, the more urgently I need them, the faster they materialize." 

"Being made out of data has its advantages then," Makis mused. 

Commandramon sniffed and looped his thumbs beneath the shoulder straps of his vest. "Not that I wouldn't mind you guys admiring how amazing I am the rest of the day, but we really should get you pair of humans out of this snow storm. Hiroto's hands have frostbite and you're skinny enough that a stiff, cold wind will blow you right over." 

Makis blushed. "H-Hey now!"

Hiroto snorted out a chuckle and then waved his hand for the party to follow him as he started his way up the cliff side. Luckily for Makis and his fear of heights, they didn't go up too high. The path wrapped around the edge of Infinity Mountain, looming above them at the island's center as always, but the snowy path they followed only went up it to a certain elevation and then leveled off. As Hiroto predicted, this path provided them with decent cover from the storm, with trees lining the edge of the cliff side and rocky overhangs that protected them from the cold wind and snow. It was a bit more treacherous than the flat plains, though, and required some teamwork getting through. Including Hiroto climbing up steep inclines in the path and offering his good arm to Makis to pull him up. They further they went, the less cold it became, the snow giving way to mostly dirt paths with deposits of snow only on the edges. "With the snow letting up like this, maybe we will get to the next area before the sun goes down," Hiroto theorized as they continued their trek, nodding his head approvingly. 

But then, another voice chimed in. "How nice for you. But you'll need to pay if you're going to pass through this way." Hiroto stopped in his tracks, and from a plateau above jumped an unexpected guest. A huge, blue-skinned Digimon, with a snarling face, thick white hair, and shards of ice sticking out of his head and shoulders, not to mention the huge ice shard he held in his hands. "I'm Hyogamon, and this is my territory," the Digimon said in his scratchy, sneering voice. "And you'll need to give me something if you want to pass through my territory alive. So cough it up," he said, extending a gigantic, ogre-like palm.

Makis was in love with the idea of not spending another night in the freezing cold, but then the blue Hyogamon blocked their path. The boy gasped and jumped back. Hyogamon wasn't as big as Birdramon, but he was just as terrifying. "What's the big idea goin' around demanding people give you free stuff, huh?" Commandramon growled as he reached for the rifle strapped across his back. "I oughta wipe that smug, greedy grin right off your face." 

"Wait!" Makis dug around in his pocket. Maybe something from the real world would appease the ice ogre. "Um... What about this? You can eat it!" he said, producing the pack of bubblegum and placing it in Hyogamon's open palm.

Hyogamon examined the item placed into his hand, and he then snarled and tossed it over his shoulder, off the side of the cliff. "Eat that?! Something so tiny would barely be a morsel! Don't you guys have anything good on you? How about some BITs?" 

"BITs?" Hiroto repeated. 

"Money," Gazimon explained, fluffing up angrily when the Digimon so carelessly discarded Makis' possessions. "And we don't have any." 

"No BITs?" Hyogamon repeated, shocked, before he started laughing an ugly, bellowing laugh. "That's hilarious! Y'know, you shouldn't be wandering around the island with no money to your names. That's how kids like you get slaughtered by guys like me," he said, letting his ice club slide out of his fist slightly, menacingly. 

Hiroto scowled, putting his hands up in front of his group on reflex. "Get ready, Commandramon," he whispered.

Makis backed up again until he was behind Gazimon, who he could tell was itching for a fight. What was Hiroto's plan? Were they supposed to make a run for it? "I got your back," Commandramon replied with a nod. He pulled his gun over his shoulder, positioned it, and then pulled the trigger. He aimed for Hyogamon's fist. The impact of the bullets made the ogre drop its ice club, and Makis took that as good a signal as any. He charged forward and ducked past Hyogamon, only pausing to see if Gazimon was still there with him.

Gazimon sped past Hyogamon, and Hiroto and Commandramon followed quickly after. "Electric Stun Blast!" Gazimon cried, shooting a sparking ball at Hyogamon's back, paralyzing the brute for a brief moment. Then, he held out his claws. "Pitfall!" he shouted, before jumping up into the air and tunneling down into the dirt as soon as he made impact. 

"Back up," Hiroto commanded his group, taking them further up the mountain path. There was a rumbling sound as the dirt began shifting underneath Hyogamon's feet, and suddenly, the ground split and the giant dropped into a pit, which spat Hyogamon out of the cliff side and into the snow below. Gazimon then popped up out of the ground at Makis' feet, grinning victoriously. "Nice work," Hiroto said, offering the Digimon a stoic thumbs up. "Let's keep moving before he gets up and tries to follow us."

"That was so cool!" Makis cheered, bending over and plucking Gazimon out of the hole in the ground. "I haven't seen you use that move before. Do you have other attacks you're hiding from us?" 

"Ah, just the two," Gazimon said, laughing and scratching at the back of his head. "But that one's more situational, y'know?" 

Commandramon fastened the rifle to his back again and followed at Hiroto's heels. "Even though Hyogamon was a huge butt about it, he kinda had a point. We might need to find a way to earn ourselves some BITs. I'm sure there will be Digimon in Toy Town who need help and are willing to pay for it. We won't need a lot, but having money might come in handy if some Digimon don't feel charitable with their information or if we run into another road block like Hyogamon."

Hiroto looked at Commandramon and nodded in agreement. "Building some funds is definitely something we need to look into... We don't want to get into a bad spot where we can't afford something urgent." Then, from below their perch, Hiroto heard a roar coming from the tundra below, and gray eyes went wide with alarm. "Toss a grenade down there, Commandramon, and let's move it!"

"I'll give him a double dose for good measure," Commandramon replied and dropped two of his DCD Bombs over the side of the cliff. The group took off then, putting as much distance between them and Hyogamon as possible. 

Much like a couple days ago, Makis ran until his lungs felt like cotton and his stomach threatened to turn over on itself. His hands found perch on his knees as he bent over, heaving and groaning against the burning in his chest. While there was still a chill in the air, the snow was almost gone from the ground and the rocky cliffs gave way to dense spruces. Instead of fat, looming snow clouds, the air was now thick with damp, gray mist. It looked as though the forest grew dark just a short distance in. There were also rustling, scuttling, and other unnerving noises coming from inside. "Oh, that place looks..." Makis gasped a few times, "looks super inviting."

"Misty Trees, huh. Just as descriptive as Freezeland," Hiroto said, breathing hard as well. He looked between Gazimon and Commandramon as he asked, "What do you guys know about this place?" 

"Not much," Gazimon admitted. "They say the Digimon in here like preying on people who are lost, so we need to be careful. There's also a guardian of the forest who will come after anyone who disrespects it, so we also need to be sure to not harm any of the foliage or otherwise disrupt nature. I'd put markings on the trees to help us not get lost if it weren't for that," he added, brandishing his claws and frowning slightly.

Makis gazed at the shadows of the forest. He didn't seem afraid, but he was reasonably nervous. "And this Toy Town is in there somewhere?" he asked and crossed his arms over his chest. "Doesn't seem like the kind of place for anything happy or playful to live." 

"Think of it more like an oasis in a desert," Commandramon explained. "It will be a joyful paradise in the middle of an otherwise gloomy and dreary woodland abyss." 

Makis rolled his eyes. "Charming." 

"Well, at least we'll know it when we see it," Hiroto offered as consolation. "If we can't mark our path, then I guess we'll just need to pay attention to anything that can act as an easy to remember marker. Weirdly shaped trees or distinct rock formations... That kind of thing. Especially on forks in the path." Then he crossed his arms and looked between the various options they had for dirt paths to start down. Each was clouded in mist, with no indication of what lied beyond. "There doesn't seem to be an optimal path as far as I can tell... But maybe we should stick close to the inner part of the island, so we have the mountain as a focal point at all times," he suggested, motioning towards the leftmost path.

Makis hummed. "Wouldn't keeping to the outside edge make more sense? Like walking through a labyrinth and keeping your hand on the wall. If we always know where the edge is, we won't wander away from it and get lost." 

"That might work if we knew where Toy Town was exactly," countered Commandramon. "If we only walk the edge, we might walk around the outskirts of the entire Misty Trees without ever finding the place."

"I also worry about us getting attacked by some kind of giant monster while standing on a cliff overlooking the ocean. And probably sharp rocks," Hiroto added. "The mountain's main danger would be avalanches, and if that occurred, it really wouldn't matter where we were, given its height," he finished matter-of-factly.

"Alright, well, since my opinion doesn't matter," Makis sighed and took the first step into Misty Trees. The fog was thick. He could feel it hanging in the air and clinging to his clothes. Even his skin felt a little damp almost right away. The boy heard a rustling sound as a shadow moved across the path in front of him. "Gazimon, stick close, okay?"

Hiroto frowned when Makis answered negatively and then walked off. Maybe he wasn't doing this conversation thing properly. "You got it," Gazimon answered, scampering a pace ahead of Makis to walk just in front of him. Hiroto waved for Commandramon to follow him as they then proceeded to move a few steps ahead of Gazimon, leading the pack. Hiroto pulled out his Swiss army knife again, this time turning on a small LED light on the front, which provided some visibility through the thick fog, though not much. Still, he pointed it ahead, occasionally shining it on the surrounding foliage, attempting to locate anything that would make for a good visual landmark. It wouldn't be easy, though-- all of the trees had the same look about them. Half-dead, gnarled, and with their sparse patches of leaves blending together into dark green blurs in the unforgiving mist.

It was even impossible telling time in the dense forest. The ever-present darkness made minutes and hours blur together. Makis eventually started flexing his hands down at his sides. "I swear, we're just walking in place. I feel like we haven't gotten anywhere. Everything looks the same!" 

"Keep your cool, kid," Commandramon said looking over his shoulder. "We gotta tackle this forest one section at a time. We're doing fine." 

"How can you say that when you have no idea where we are?!" Makis felt like the mist was trying to choke him, or get under his skin into his bones and weigh him down. "We shouldn't have come in here. This was a mistake..."

"We're okay," Hiroto said, looking over his shoulder as well. "I've been keeping track of anything notable in the landscape, and we've only doubled back once. And in that instance, we simply went down the opposite path." The boy then looked down at his flashlight. "I'm just glad this is still working. My compass is busted, but if this didn't work, I wouldn't be able to tell anything apart out here. As it stands, the trees pretty much all blend together unless one's shaped irregularly." Then he looked at Commandramon, frowning gently. "I am concerned about where we might camp, though. I haven't seen any caves or even uprooted trees... The idea of just sleeping out in the open seems unwise with how often we get attacked by some agitated Digimon."

"We might not have a choice this time," Commandramon replied. "It might be for the best, though. Leaving the path even for a cave to sleep in might be a bad idea. If we leave the path, we might not come back to the same one. I know it's not ideal for you and Makis, but sleeping just on the edge of the path against the overhang of the trees might be the best option. Gazimon and I will protect you, though, so don't worry."

"Hm. Maybe we shouldn't stop," Hiroto murmured, squinting into the gloom. 

"Waiting until Toy Town to actually stop and sleep isn't a bad idea; however, if you and Makis get too tired, you also run the risk of losing focus and getting lost." 

It was then that Hiroto noticed something in the distance. Large shadows, standing stock still in the fog. He put his hand up for everyone to stop, freezing and staring at the shadows. But they didn't move, nor could he hear any sounds that might indicate a wild Digimon. He began slowly walking closer until the mist cleared enough to show them what the shadows were. They seemed to be Digimon statues, carved out of stone. Some looked like ogres, one looked like Birdramon, and another still looked like a little horned dog standing up on two feet. "These are... eerie," Hiroto commented as they approached.

Makis didn't like the idea of wandering exhausted and aimless through the forest, but he felt like Hiroto wouldn't listen even if he spoke up about the matter. His feet shuffled when Hiroto signaled for them all to stop. When the other boy approached the figures, Makis followed. A sinking feeling dropped in his chest when he saw the statues. "This doesn't feel right," he said, instantly plucking Gazimon off the ground and holding his Digimon close. "We shouldn't be here. We need to keep moving and get away from this place."

Hiroto observed the figures for a moment longer, frowning deeply when he noticed the common theme they shared—open, horrified mouths. "Yeah," he agreed, starting to turn away. 

"Does it disturb you?" came a voice, deep and echoey, from within the fog.


End file.
